Afghan women, gathering firewood, killed

This video is called Afghans say NATO air strike kills 12 children, two women.

From National Public Radio in the USA:

Four U.S. Troops Killed In Afghanistan; NATO Strike Kills 8 Afghan Women

by Krishnadev Calamur

Four U.S. service members were killed by an Afghan police officer and a NATO airstrike killed eight women in separate attacks in Afghanistan on Sunday.

NATO says the attack on the coalition troops occurred at a remote checkpoint in southern Afghanistan. The Afghan officer escaped after the incident. Eight NATO troops have been killed in similar insider attacks over the past three days.

Here’s more from The Associated Press about the recent attacks:

“Recent months have seen a string of such insider attacks by Afghan forces against their international counterparts. The killings have imperiled the military partnership between Kabul and NATO, a working relationship that is key to the handover of security responsibilities to Afghan forces as international troops draw down.”

Afghan officials also said an alliance airstrike killed eight women who were gathering firewood in a remote eastern village before dawn Sunday. NATO said 45 insurgents, and no civilians were killed.

Contrary to this report, Dutch NOS TV says that NATO did admit that they may have have killed civilians.

Dutch RTL TV says that NATO did not just admit that “may” have killed civilians; but that they indeed killed civilians.

The alliance did say it was investigating the claims of civilian casualties, the AP reported.

Sarhadi Zewak, a spokesman for the provincial government, told the AP that villagers from Laghman province’s Alingar district brought the eight bodies to the governor’s office in the provincial capital.

“They were shouting ‘Death to America!’ They were condemning the attack,” he told the AP.

Provincial health director Latif Qayumi told the AP seven injured females were brought to area hospitals for treatment. He said some of them were as young as 10.

Dutch RTL TV says that eight women were killed and eight wounded.

See also here.

NATO bombing kills nine women in Afghanistan as fighting mounts: here.

In the wake of a bloody weekend in Afghanistan we’ve had the usual flurry of news reports and op-eds “explaining” what’s going on and rationalising the never-ending violence in the country: here.