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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings, Torture and Big Money |
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March 5th,
2007 - 16 Civilians Die as U.S. Troops Fire on Afghan Road |
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16 Civilians Die as U.S.
Troops Fire on Afghan Road By Carlotta Gall New York Times March 5, 2007 Kabul, Afghanistan, March 4
- American troops opened fire on a highway filled with civilian cars and
bystanders on Sunday, American and Afghan officials said, in an incident that
the Americans said left 16 civilians dead and 24 wounded after a suicide car
bombing in eastern Afghanistan. One American was also wounded. The shooting sparked
demonstrations, with local people blocking the highway, the main road east
from the town of Jalalabad to the border with Pakistan. And there were
differences in some of the accounts of the incident, with the Americans
saying that the civilians were caught in cross-fire between the troops and
militants, and Afghan witnesses and some authorities blaming the Americans
for indiscriminately shooting at civilian vehicles in anger after the
explosion. The United States military
said the unit came under fire after a suicide bomber detonated his
explosive-laden car near their convoy “as part of a complex ambush involving
enemy small-arms fire from several directions.” Members of the unit, on
patrol near Jalalabad airfield, returned fire, and the civilians were killed
and wounded in the cross-fire during the battle, according to a statement
from the military press office at Bagram Air Base, 40 miles north of Kabul. “We regret the death of
innocent Afghan citizens as a result of the Taliban extremists’ cowardly
act,” Lt. Col. David Accetta, a military spokesman, said in the statement.
“Once again the terrorists demonstrated their blatant disregard for human
life by attacking coalition forces in a populated area, knowing full well
that innocent Afghans would be killed and wounded in the attack.” Yet some of the wounded
interviewed in the hospital by news agencies said the only shooting came from
the American troops. A hospital official, who asked not to be identified,
said all the wounded were suffering from bullet wounds and not shrapnel from
the bomb explosion. Hundreds of Afghans blocked
the road and threw rocks at police officers in protest afterward, with some
demonstrators shouting “Death to America! Death to Karzai!” a reference to
President Hamid Karzai, The Associated Press reported. The shooting will be a
setback for American forces in Afghanistan, who have been working to contain
the continuing insurgent attacks, in particular roadside bombs and suicide
attacks, and win the support of the people with reconstruction and
development projects. Deadly riots shook Kabul last May after American troops
were involved in a fatal car crash and then opened fire on the crowd. Among the dead on Sunday
morning were a woman and two children in their early teens, said Dr. Ajmal
Pardez, the provincial director of health, speaking by telephone from the
Jalalabad city hospital. He said the hospital received 10 dead and 25 wounded
people from the incident, with four people in critical condition. After the suicide attack,
the Americans treated every car and person along the highway as a potential
attacker, though none of the people showed hostile intent, Muhammad Khan
Katawazi, the district chief of Shinwar, told The A.P. “They were firing
everywhere, and they even opened fire on 14 to 15 vehicles passing on the
highway,” said Tur Gul, 38, who was standing on the roadside by a gas station
and was shot twice in the right hand. “They opened fire on everybody, the
ones inside the vehicles and the ones on foot.” Some of the wounded
interviewed by The A.P. said the soldiers opened fire indiscriminately on
passing cars and pedestrians on the busy main road. “When we parked our vehicle,
when they passed us, they opened fire on our vehicle,” said 15-year-old
Mohammad Ishaq, who was hit by two bullets, in the left arm and right ear.
“It was a convoy of three American Humvees. All three Humvees were firing
around.” In other fighting, two British
soldiers were killed Saturday in southern Afghanistan, the British Defense
Ministry said Sunday. The men were involved in heavy fighting that has raged
for three days in the town of Sangin, said Col. Tom Collins, a NATO spokesman
in Kabul. Townspeople have fled the town and abandoned their shops as Taliban
insurgents and British forces stationed there have been trading artillery and
rocket fire, according to a resident of the area. External link: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/05/world/asia/05afghan.html |