U.S.-LED FORCES KILL 76 AFGHAN CIVILIANS – MINISTRY
Sharafuddin Sharafyar, Reuters, 8/22/08
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/8/23/worldupdates/2008-08-22T225015Z_01_NOOTR_RTRMDNC_0_-351365-2&sec=Worldupdates
HERAT, Afghanistan (Reuters) – U.S.-led coalition forces killed 76
Afghan civilians in western Afghanistan on Friday, most of them
children, the Interior Ministry said.
The coalition denied killing civilians. Civilian deaths in military
operations have become an emotive issue among Afghans, many of whom
feel international forces take too little care when launching air
strikes, undermining support for their presence.
“Seventy-six civilians, most of them women and children, were
martyred today in a coalition forces operation in Herat province,”
the Interior Ministry said in a statement.
Coalition forces bombarded the Azizabad area of Shindand district in
Herat province on Friday afternoon, the ministry said. Nineteen of
the victims were women, seven of them men and the rest children under
the age of 15, it said. (MORE)
