9 Civilians

9 civilians killed by airstrike

Sami Zaatari

Freedom and Democracy at work! Freedom and Democracy courtesy of Judeo-Christian societies (that's what they call themselves):

Nine civilians and two alleged militants are dead after two separate air strikes in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

An overnight air strike by international forces in Afghanistan killed nine civilians, including at least three children, villagers said Thursday. Afghan authorities said they had no reports of civilian deaths.

Residents of Korkhashien village drove the bodies to the governor's office in the nearby provincial capital of Lashkar Gah.

The convoy of vans and station wagons from Korkhashien drove from the governor's office to a central market, where the villagers shouted blame at both President Hamid Karzai and his international allies.

Helmand provincial spokesman Daoud Ahmadi confirmed an air strike in Korkhashien, but said eight Taliban militants were killed while hiding out in a compound.

Sgt. Angela Eggman, a U.S. spokeswoman for NATO forces, said she knew of some sort of incident in the area and it was being investigated.

Although NATO forces have retooled their mission to focus on protecting the population ? and have been issued new rules for air strikes aimed at reducing civilian casualties ? it is often difficult to distinguish militants from civilians in areas where the Taliban live among the people and often grew up in the villages they hide out in.

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/11/05/afghan-air-strike.html?ref=rss

Freedom!

And Allah Knows Best!