NATO accused of killing dozens of Afghan civilians

NATO forces in the Panjwayi region of Afghanistan have killed scores of civilians in a single operation, bombing them in their own homes as they celebrated the end of Ramadan. Afghan officials and villagers told reporters that dozens of civilians were killed in NATO air strikes in the southern province of Kandahar on Oct. 24. "We were under bombardment and airstrike from midnight onwards," said Toor, 25, an Afghan farmer, lying dust-covered and bloody in a stretcher. "We couldn't move, there was fire everywhere. Then I was hit in the leg. I crawled out with my wife and three brothers. All of us were wounded. We saw dead and wounded lying everywhere as we escaped: men, women and children." NATO said its own initial investigation found that only 12 "noncombatants" were killed, but it had no explanation for the discrepancy with the government's figures. International news agencies said the Afghan Interior Ministry and local officials estimated as many as 85 civilians were killed in three villages–which would make the incident the worst single atrocity committed by Western forces in Afghanistan since the 2001 US-led invasion. Witnesses say 25 houses were razed in four to five hours of bombing. The night before, a young girl was killed and two other children were injured when a NATO mortar test fell short of its target and hit their home in the eastern province of Kunar. On Oct. 18, Afghan officials said NATO airstrikes also killed nine civilians in the village of Ashogho, Kandahar. The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan denounced the killings. NATO officials told reporters the Afghan defense ministry would probe the killings in Kandahar, but provincial officials said local villagers had grown weary of investigations because, at best, these have yielded only verbal apologies. "What do you foreigners think you are doing?" an angry doctor demanded of a Western journalist as three boys, all wounded by shrapnel, were wheeled into Mirawais hospital in Kandahar. One had his right eye blown out and the other two had abdominal injuries. "You bomb civilians, then come in to talk to them? Better if you leave." Relatives of the dead and wounded had only harsh words for their leaders in Kabul, whom they accuse of being bankrupt of courage and integrity. "I've just called President Karzai and he switched off the phone," said Haji Shah Mohammed, a senior member of the province's council. "Three of my nephews are dead and three more of my family are wounded. I called the governor but he switched off his phone too. Who will hear us?" In Kandahar city, hundreds attended a mass funeral. "Everyone is very angry at the government and the coalition. There was no Taliban," said Abdul Aye, a villager, as he wept. He said 22 of his extended family were killed. "These tragedies just keep continuing." Another villager, Taj Mohammed, said 10 members of his family were killed. "The information was wrong," he said. "There were no militants. Innocent people have been killed." NATO will cooperate with an inquiry by the Afghan Defense Ministry. But Bismillah Afghanmal, a Kandahar provincial council member, said: "An investigation has no meaning. These kinds of things have happened several times, and they only say: 'Sorry.' How can you compensate people who have lost their sons and daughters? The government and the coalition told the families that there are no Taliban in the area anymore. If there are no Taliban, then why are they bombing the area?" NATO had claimed in September that it had successfully cleared the Panjwayi area of Taliban. Official and media tallies suggest this has been Afghanistan's bloodiest year since the US-led invasion routed the Taliban government. More than 3,000 people have been killed. The death toll includes many civilians and more than 150 foreign soldiers.