NATO helicoper kills Afghan children

This video from the USA says about itself:

Children Targeted by Bombs, U.S. Military Approves

Published on Dec 5, 2012

“In October, I blogged about an incident in Afghanistan in which three small children were killed in a US airstrike.

In that one small incident, which drew little attention at the time and since, three children aged 12, 10 and 8 were blown to smithereens in a NATO bombing while they were out gathering dung for fuel.

Now, in a despicable article in Military Times, the US military says that children are legitimate targets in the war in Afghanistan because sometimes the Taliban and other insurgents use kids.”

Three children living in Afghanistan, aged 12, 10 and 8 were targeted and killed by a NATO bomb as they dug for dung to use as fuel. It wasn’t an accident. According to the Military Times, “Some children aren’t bystanders.” Cenk Uygur discusses the despicable act of purposely killing children and what it means for foreign relations.

From AFP news agency:

30 March 2013 – 14H07

NATO airstrike ‘kills two Afghan children‘

A NATO helicopter strike killed two children in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, officials said, in the latest civilian casualties to beset the coalition’s war against Taliban militants.

…

“It was a joint (Afghan and coalition) operation conducted this morning that killed nine Taliban. Unfortunately, two school children were also killed and seven other civilians were wounded,” he [Mohammad Ali Ahmadi, the deputy governor of Ghazni province] said.

A spokesman for the NATO’s International Security Assistance Force said it was aware of the reported civilian casualties and was seeking further information.

However he added that the ISAF helicopter engagement was not in direct support of Afghan forces, without giving further details.

It was unclear who called in the airstrike, but President Hamid Karzai recently banned Afghan forces from requesting foreign air support.

Civilian casualties mostly caused by air strikes have been one of the most sensitive issues in relations between Karzai and the NATO-led military.

The civilians were riding in two vehicles near the Taliban post when the attack took place, Mohammad Hassan Hadil, the deputy police chief of the province, said.

The deaths, if confirmed, would be another blow to the prestige of US-led NATO forces as they prepare to withdraw combat troops from the war against the Islamist insurgents by the end of next year.

…

Four civilians, including a child, were killed in a two-day raid against Taliban insurgents by Afghan and international forces in Logar province earlier this week.

Pajhwok Afghan News says seven civilians, including more than one child, were killed then in Logar. Common Dreams writes four children.

Reuters writes about today:

Last month Karzai forbade Afghan forces from calling for NATO air support and forbade NATO from striking “in Afghan homes or villages” after Afghan forces called in a strike that killed 10 civilians. …

A Reuters reporter saw the bodies of two children. One was in school uniform. Local elder Jan Mohammad and other residents said he was killed in the air strike.

The reporter also saw the hand and foot of a toddler at the site of the air strike, but the circumstances of the death were not immediately clear.

On February 28, 2013, two young Afghan boys were killed during a NATO airstrike in southern Afghanistan. What made this incident unusual was that the world learned their names: here. See also here.

Afghan villagers flee their homes, blame US drones as targeted killings of militants rise: here.

Related articles

• Police: Four Children Killed in Afghan Night Raid (news.antiwar.com)
• NATO’s Afghan war ‘unwise’, Karzai says (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)