Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
New York Times
December 4, 2006
Pg. 14
By Carlotta Gall
KABUL, Afghanistan, Dec. 3 — British troops opened fire on civilians in the southern city of Kandahar on Sunday, after a suicide bomber rammed a minibus into their military convoy, wounding three soldiers and setting a vehicle on fire, officials and witnesses said.
At least three people were killed and 15 wounded in the bombing and the shooting afterward, hospital officials said. By late evening, Reuters was reporting that as many as eight people had been killed.
The bomber struck around 11 a.m. on the main road through the city. One military vehicle was ablaze as a helicopter lifted out the wounded soldiers. As crowds and cars started pushing to get past the blocked road, the troops, fearing a second suicide attack, opened fire on at least one civilian vehicle that did not obey hand signals to keep back, said a NATO spokesman in Kabul, Maj. Luke Knittig. At least one person was killed and one was wounded, he said.
Witnesses said that up to 10 people had been wounded by NATO gunfire. Six or seven people were killed or wounded by the bomb blast, relatives said.
“My cousin and I were on the way from Nelgham village to the city in a taxi when British troops came along,” said Dost Muhammad, 35, who was at the Kandahar city hospital looking after his cousin, Abdul Khaliq, 30, who he said had been wounded by British soldiers. “Our driver reduced his speed and tried to stop on the side of the road, and the British came very near and started firing. My cousin and the driver were shot by them. I saw six other men shot by them.”
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the suicide attack, a spokesman, Qari Yousef Ahmedi, told The Associated Press by telephone. The bomber was driving in the same direction as the convoy when he exploded his vehicle, said Ahmadullah Faizi, a spokesman for the NATO security force in Kandahar. Three British soldiers were wounded in the attack, he said.
“I saw a Town Ace minibus was moving very slowly just as a British convoy came near to it and it exploded,” said Qassim Alokozai, 25, a shopkeeper. “After that I was trying to get myself away from the area because the British started firing on local people. The British took out the injured men from the damaged vehicle, and after that they left their vehicle and escaped.”
A civilian supply helicopter working for NATO went down in bad weather in the mountains of southern Afghanistan on Saturday, according to a NATO statement. A search-and-rescue team located the helicopter at noon Sunday but was not able to reach the crash site or determine the status of the eight-member crew.
NATO forces on a routine patrol in the Musa Qala district of Helmand Province fought with insurgents for four hours on Saturday night, a NATO statement said Sunday. British troops had negotiated a cease-fire with the Taliban and local tribal elders there in recent weeks, but called in airstrikes against the insurgents on Saturday.
December 4, 2006
Pg. 14
By Carlotta Gall
KABUL, Afghanistan, Dec. 3 — British troops opened fire on civilians in the southern city of Kandahar on Sunday, after a suicide bomber rammed a minibus into their military convoy, wounding three soldiers and setting a vehicle on fire, officials and witnesses said.
At least three people were killed and 15 wounded in the bombing and the shooting afterward, hospital officials said. By late evening, Reuters was reporting that as many as eight people had been killed.
The bomber struck around 11 a.m. on the main road through the city. One military vehicle was ablaze as a helicopter lifted out the wounded soldiers. As crowds and cars started pushing to get past the blocked road, the troops, fearing a second suicide attack, opened fire on at least one civilian vehicle that did not obey hand signals to keep back, said a NATO spokesman in Kabul, Maj. Luke Knittig. At least one person was killed and one was wounded, he said.
Witnesses said that up to 10 people had been wounded by NATO gunfire. Six or seven people were killed or wounded by the bomb blast, relatives said.
“My cousin and I were on the way from Nelgham village to the city in a taxi when British troops came along,” said Dost Muhammad, 35, who was at the Kandahar city hospital looking after his cousin, Abdul Khaliq, 30, who he said had been wounded by British soldiers. “Our driver reduced his speed and tried to stop on the side of the road, and the British came very near and started firing. My cousin and the driver were shot by them. I saw six other men shot by them.”
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the suicide attack, a spokesman, Qari Yousef Ahmedi, told The Associated Press by telephone. The bomber was driving in the same direction as the convoy when he exploded his vehicle, said Ahmadullah Faizi, a spokesman for the NATO security force in Kandahar. Three British soldiers were wounded in the attack, he said.
“I saw a Town Ace minibus was moving very slowly just as a British convoy came near to it and it exploded,” said Qassim Alokozai, 25, a shopkeeper. “After that I was trying to get myself away from the area because the British started firing on local people. The British took out the injured men from the damaged vehicle, and after that they left their vehicle and escaped.”
A civilian supply helicopter working for NATO went down in bad weather in the mountains of southern Afghanistan on Saturday, according to a NATO statement. A search-and-rescue team located the helicopter at noon Sunday but was not able to reach the crash site or determine the status of the eight-member crew.
NATO forces on a routine patrol in the Musa Qala district of Helmand Province fought with insurgents for four hours on Saturday night, a NATO statement said Sunday. British troops had negotiated a cease-fire with the Taliban and local tribal elders there in recent weeks, but called in airstrikes against the insurgents on Saturday.