NATO kills own Afghan police allies

This video says about itself:

Afghanistan NATO friendly attack, 52 killed by Ulfat Bukhari 29.5.11

Afghan authorities said on Sunday NATO had killed 52 people, mostly civilians, in air strikes against insurgents as violence picked up in recent weeks with the start of the fighting season.

In the southern province of Helmand, local authorities said at least 14 civilians, including women and children, were killed and six injured in an air raid Saturday.

US Marines in Helmand’s Nawzad district called in air support after their base came under attack from small arms fire, the provincial government said in a statement.

“During the air strike, two civilian houses were targeted which killed 14 civilians and six others were wounded,” it said.

The statement said the dead included five girls, seven boys and two women.

“ISAF are aware of the reports that civilians were allegedly killed in an ISAF air strike,” Major Tim James, a spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, told AFP.

“(The) Regional Command South West has sent a joint assessment team to the area to look into the allegation and they will issue their findings to the press.”

Aslam, a local elder of Nawzad district, told AFP he “lost 12 relatives while 10 others including children were injured” in the air strike.

He said some shots were fired at ISAF helicopters which flew into the area, adding that the choppers returned after 10 to 20 minutes and fired rockets, killing the “innocent civilians”.

According to him, five children, five men and two women were killed in the attack.

Separately the governor of Nuristan on Sunday told AFP that 18 civilians and 20 policemen were killed by “friendly fire” during US-led air strikes against insurgents in his troubled northeastern province.

A Nato air strike in Afghanistan‘s Nuristan province on Sunday killed four police officers and wounded two others, provincial governor Jamaluddin Badar said today: here. And here.

During his visit to Kabul, President Nicolas Sarkozy announced the withdrawal of a quarter of the French troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2012: here.

Kabul’s economy leaves poor in the dark: The Sydney Morning Herald: here.

Afghanistan: “new protest” movements: here.