Afghans Protest After Coalition Raid Kills 6 People

Team Infidel

Forum Spin Doctor
New York Times
April 30, 2007
Pg. 6

By Abdul Waheed Wafa
KABUL, Afghanistan, April 29 — A raid by American and Afghan troops on a suspected bomb-making compound before dawn on Sunday killed six people, including two women, and wounded two children in eastern Afghanistan, Afghan officials said.
Hundreds of angry villagers brought the bodies of the victims onto the main Kabul-to-Pakistan highway nearby and demonstrated for more than five hours, chanting “Death to America,” the Afghan police said.
Col. Ghafoor Khan, spokesman for the police chief in Nangarhar Province, where the raid occurred, said that the people who were killed or wounded were all civilians. “Six civilians, including two women, were killed in this incident, and eight others were detained by coalition forces,” he said in a telephone interview.
But the United States military, while it confirmed the raid and the death toll, said in a statement that four of the dead were militants, and that a teenage girl and a younger girl were wounded in cross-fire. American forces took the younger child, along with an adult female relative, for medical treatment, the statement said.
“During the operation, coalition forces received small-arms fire from several militants as they attempted to enter the compound,” it said. “Coalition forces returned fire, killing four militants. An adult woman and a teenager were also killed in the cross-fire between militants and coalition forces.”
There is growing anger in Afghanistan over raids on houses and civilian casualties, and legislators and tribal elders from eastern Afghanistan have warned that the attacks are playing into the hands of the insurgents.
The raid occurred in the same area of Nangarhar Province where at least 10 civilians were killed by American marines who began firing at vehicles and pedestrians on the main highway after being hit by a suicide bomb attack on March 4.
The initial report from the American military said that the marines had been caught in a complex ambush, coming under small-arms fire after the bombing. But an investigation by the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission found that the marines used excessive force in the situation and killed at least 12 civilians. American military investigators involved in an inquiry said they had found no evidence that the marines were fired on after the initial attack.
Hajji Lewani, a resident of the area who was wounded in the March 4 shooting and whose father and two other relatives were killed, attended the funeral for the people killed on Sunday. In a telephone interview, he said, “Two women and two men were from a family who were living here and were originally from Tagab district, and one man is from a separate family of the area.”
He said he did not know whether the people were involved in any activities against the Afghan government or American forces.
 
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