| Ander Nieuws week 43 / nieuwe oorlog 2006 |
The Herald
October 19 2006
By Kathy Gannon
Airstrikes by Nato helicopters hunting Taliban fighters ripped through three dried-mud homes in Afghanistan as villagers slept yesterday.
Angry residents condemned the attack in Ashogho, which set back Nato hopes of winning local support for its tough campaign against insurgents.
"I am not Taliban! We are not Taliban!" villager Gulab Shah shouted by the rubble of the ruined houses.
"If the foreign soldiers were so smart that they knew there were Taliban here, why didn't they see the women and children who were sleeping? Why do they want to kill us? How can they help us rebuild if they want to kill us? Maybe they should leave."
Residents claimed the attacks had killed 13 people and injured 15 more.
The 2am raid, in Kandahar province, took place half a mile from the scene of September's Operation Medusa, one of the most ferocious battles between Western forces and insurgents since the Taliban regime was ousted in 2001.
Nato's International Security Assistance Force said in a statement the operation, in the Zhari district, was believed to have caused "several" civilian casualties. It said the operation was meant to detain people involved in roadside bomb attacks in Panjwayi district, which borders Zhari.
Nato said it regretted any civilian casualties and it made "every effort" to minimise the risk of collateral damage.
Provincial Governor Asadullah Khan said it seemed clear from the villagers that there had not been Taliban in their village when the bombing occurred. "It is hard to know when the Taliban are moving around from one place to another," he said. "But it seems they weren't here."
Elsewhere, a rocket hit a house during a clash between suspected Taliban insurgents and security forces in Helmand province.
A resident said 13 villagers, including women and children, died.
Earlier, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Mullah Omar, the Taliban leader who headed the repressive Islamist regime ousted by US-led forces five years ago, was hiding in the Pakistani city of Quetta.
The Afghan leader has blamed Pakistan for a surge in Taliban violence in Afghanistan, and demanded its President, Pervez Musharraf, crack down on militant sanctuaries.
"We know he is in Quetta," Karzai said of Omar, whose regime was toppled after the September 11 attacks on America.
Pakistan's government has bluntly rejected Karzai's allegations.
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