UN report criticizes covert troops who committed Afghan killings

Covert troops who killed two pregnant women and a teenage girl in eastern Afghanistan went on to inflict "cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment" on the survivors of a botched night raid, a report by the UN said. The family of the victims in Paktiya province have accused NATO of trying to cover up the atrocity after an investigation by The Times revealed that two men, who were also killed, were not the intended targets of the raid. One was a police commander and his brother was a district-attorney. The unpublished UN report, which was acquired by The Times, contradicts NATO's version of events. Rear-Admiral Greg Smith, NATO's communications director, had said that the women had been dead for several hours when US and Afghan gunmen started shooting into the family home. The report, written in the aftermath of the February 12 attack, states: "As a result of the operation, five people were killed, two men and three women, all belonging to the same family." There were about 25 guests and three musicians at the house on the night of the raid. They had gathered to celebrate the naming of a newborn child. It was only when a musician stepped outside to go to the lavatory at about 3.30am, that someone flashed a light in his eyes and he ran back inside shouting "Taliban".