NATO kills 10 Afghan election campaigners

From AFP news agency correspondence in Afghanistan:

September 2, 2010

NATO air strike kills 10 civilians: Afghan president

Officials said earlier that 10 election campaigners had been killed in an air strike by international forces

KABUL — Ten Afghan civilians were killed Thursday in a NATO air strike on three vehicles carrying election campaign workers in northern Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai said in a statement.

Karzai strongly condemned the incident in his statement, confirming earlier reports of an air strike that killed election workers in Takhar province.

“Three vehicles carrying the members of a parliamentary election candidate’s team was targeted by NATO aircraft twice while travelling towards the Kiwan area in Rustaq district of Takhar province this morning, during which 10 campaign members were martyred (killed) and two others injured,” the statement from the presidential palace said.

… “President Karzai once again emphasised that air strikes over Afghan villages will achieve nothing in the war on terrorism but the killing of Afghan civilians,” it said.

Officials said earlier that 10 election campaigners had been killed in an air strike by international forces in the relatively peaceful north of the country.

In an initial reaction to reports of the strike, NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), the international counter-insurgency mission in Afghanistan, said it was “aware of the allegations”.

“We’re investigating to find out if it’s true or not,” an ISAF spokesman said.

Major General David Garza, deputy chief of staff for joint operations at ISAF’s joint command, said in a later statement that the operation had targeted vehicles carrying a member of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU).

The IMU are opponents of the Uzbek regime of Islam Karimov. Ever since George W Bush, the US government supports the Karimov dictatorship, even though it boils oppositionists alive.

The election campaigners were working for parliamentary candidate Abdul Wahed Khurasani, who had survived the bombing with injuries, he said. NATO has around 150,000 troops in Afghanistan to fight a Taliban-led insurgency.

The international force has been responsible for scores of civilian deaths, many of them killed during air raids aimed against insurgents.

Kabul: The Afghan government on Monday disputed Nato findings that a top insurgent was killed in an airstrike this month, maintaining that the victims were civilians working for a candidate in next weekend’s parliament elections: here.

Afghans Pull Money From Weakened Bank: here.