Dozens of Afghan civilians die in NATO air raids: residents
Fri Jul 27, 2007
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Dozens of civilians, including women and children, have been killed in two foreign air strikes in southern Afghanistan, residents and a local member of parliament said on Friday.
One of the raids by NATO hit houses in the Girishk district of Helmand province on Thursday evening, killing up to 50 civilians, a group of some 20 residents reported to journalists in Kandahar, the main city in the south.
Wali Jan Sabri, a parliamentarian from Helmand, said he had credible information that between 50 to 60 civilians had been killed in a battle between the Taliban and NATO forces in Girishk.
He said most of the victims were killed in air strikes.
Yes, there was a battle and most of those killed were from NATO bombardment, he told Reuters.
The district chief of Girishk, Manaf Khan, said more than 20 civilians were killed in NATO bombing when they were trying to flee the battle.
The fighting was fierce between Taliban and NATO, he told Reuters. Civilians began to flee and 27 or 28 of them were killed while fleeing NATO bombing. I do not have information about the wounded, he said.
He later phoned Reuters to say said that 50 Taliban were also killed in the bombing and battle. The Taliban could not be reached for comment.
A spokesman for British forces in Helmand said there was an ongoing operation in the province, but denied there had been any civilian casualties around Girishk.
We have no reports of any such incidents in Girishk yesterday at all. There have been no people taken to the hospital in relation to anything around Girishk, said Lieutenant-Colonel Charlie Mayo.
Because the Taliban dont wear uniforms like us, as soon as they are killed, they are called civilians, the key is are they male or female and if they are male, what age are they?
Due to the remoteness of the region it was not immediately possible to verify the information
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racak_incident
The Raak incident (also called the Raak massacre or Raak operation) was a clash in the village of Raak, Kosovo, Serbia, (known as Reak in Albanian) on January 15, 1999 between Yugoslav security forces and Kosovo Liberation Army guerillas, in which 45 Albanian civilians died. Outside Yugoslavia, the deaths were widely blamed on the actions of the Yugoslav security forces, which were accused of having committed a deliberate massacre [1][2]. The Yugoslav government has consistently claimed that it was a legitimate police operation where no crime was committed by the state forces.
The Raak incident later featured among the war crimes charges for which Slobodan Miloevi was eventually indicted and put on trial by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. It was one of the bloodiest incidents to have occurred in the conflict in Kosovo up to that point, and is the only incident prior to the Kosovo War for which war crimes indictments have been issued.
According to a January 12, 1999 report compiled by OSCE/KVM verifiers in Stimlje, the KLA was planning to fabricate Serbian crimes in order to falsely place blame on the army and police. It is worth noting that Racak is in the Stimlje municipality, and that January 12th was just three days before the Racak operation. Ironically, this document was given to Milosevic by the prosecution.
These internal KVM documents also showed that William Walker tried to suppress reports that the KLA had kidnapped MUP and VJ personnel serving in the Racak area. The documents showed that Walker was furious at the KVM staff when word reached Washington that the kidnappings had occurred.
In addition to Racak, the witness gave testimony about his dealings with senior KVM staff. He described Gen. Drewienkiewiczs behavior as arrogant. On one occasion Drewienkiewicz accused the Yugoslav Army of shooting at KVM verifiers even though the KVM officers who were targeted in the shooting insisted that the KLA were the ones who had shot at them.
When Drewienkiewicz testified as a prosecution witness he boasted of how he selflessly slept on the floor of his office for three nights by the telephone in order to arrange the release of Serbian police that were being held hostage by the KLA.
Col. Kotur explained that Drewienkiewicz did no such thing. The hostages were released when the Serbian authorities agreed to exchange captured KLA terrorists for them.
Another KVM official, the Canadian Gen. Maisonneuve, also testified for the prosecution. He testified that Gen. Krsman Jelic had refused to meet with him after the events in Racak.
Col. Kotur explained that Jelic and Maisonneuve met without any problem. In fact, as the man in charge of cooperation between the VJ and the KVM, Col. Kotur personally arranged the meeting himself. He even attended the meeting and contrary to the testimony of Maisonneuve, both Gen. Jelic and Col. Petrovic insisted that the VJ had not taken part in the operation at Racak.
Another KVM official, Col. Richard Ciaglinski, also testified for the prosecution. During a closed-session hearing he told the tribunal that Col. Kotur had shown him a map and told him that the Yugoslav Army was going to cleanse Kosovo of its entire Albanian population.
Col. Kotur denied that he said any such thing to Ciaglinski. He said that the prosecutions witness was a liar and that the state security forces never had any plan to cleanse Kosovo of its Albanian population. With that Milosevic ended his examination-in-chief.
Fri Jul 27, 2007
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Dozens of civilians, including women and children, have been killed in two foreign air strikes in southern Afghanistan, residents and a local member of parliament said on Friday.
One of the raids by NATO hit houses in the Girishk district of Helmand province on Thursday evening, killing up to 50 civilians, a group of some 20 residents reported to journalists in Kandahar, the main city in the south.
Wali Jan Sabri, a parliamentarian from Helmand, said he had credible information that between 50 to 60 civilians had been killed in a battle between the Taliban and NATO forces in Girishk.
He said most of the victims were killed in air strikes.
Yes, there was a battle and most of those killed were from NATO bombardment, he told Reuters.
The district chief of Girishk, Manaf Khan, said more than 20 civilians were killed in NATO bombing when they were trying to flee the battle.
The fighting was fierce between Taliban and NATO, he told Reuters. Civilians began to flee and 27 or 28 of them were killed while fleeing NATO bombing. I do not have information about the wounded, he said.
He later phoned Reuters to say said that 50 Taliban were also killed in the bombing and battle. The Taliban could not be reached for comment.
A spokesman for British forces in Helmand said there was an ongoing operation in the province, but denied there had been any civilian casualties around Girishk.
We have no reports of any such incidents in Girishk yesterday at all. There have been no people taken to the hospital in relation to anything around Girishk, said Lieutenant-Colonel Charlie Mayo.
Because the Taliban dont wear uniforms like us, as soon as they are killed, they are called civilians, the key is are they male or female and if they are male, what age are they?
Due to the remoteness of the region it was not immediately possible to verify the information
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racak_incident
The Raak incident (also called the Raak massacre or Raak operation) was a clash in the village of Raak, Kosovo, Serbia, (known as Reak in Albanian) on January 15, 1999 between Yugoslav security forces and Kosovo Liberation Army guerillas, in which 45 Albanian civilians died. Outside Yugoslavia, the deaths were widely blamed on the actions of the Yugoslav security forces, which were accused of having committed a deliberate massacre [1][2]. The Yugoslav government has consistently claimed that it was a legitimate police operation where no crime was committed by the state forces.
The Raak incident later featured among the war crimes charges for which Slobodan Miloevi was eventually indicted and put on trial by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. It was one of the bloodiest incidents to have occurred in the conflict in Kosovo up to that point, and is the only incident prior to the Kosovo War for which war crimes indictments have been issued.
According to a January 12, 1999 report compiled by OSCE/KVM verifiers in Stimlje, the KLA was planning to fabricate Serbian crimes in order to falsely place blame on the army and police. It is worth noting that Racak is in the Stimlje municipality, and that January 12th was just three days before the Racak operation. Ironically, this document was given to Milosevic by the prosecution.
These internal KVM documents also showed that William Walker tried to suppress reports that the KLA had kidnapped MUP and VJ personnel serving in the Racak area. The documents showed that Walker was furious at the KVM staff when word reached Washington that the kidnappings had occurred.
In addition to Racak, the witness gave testimony about his dealings with senior KVM staff. He described Gen. Drewienkiewiczs behavior as arrogant. On one occasion Drewienkiewicz accused the Yugoslav Army of shooting at KVM verifiers even though the KVM officers who were targeted in the shooting insisted that the KLA were the ones who had shot at them.
When Drewienkiewicz testified as a prosecution witness he boasted of how he selflessly slept on the floor of his office for three nights by the telephone in order to arrange the release of Serbian police that were being held hostage by the KLA.
Col. Kotur explained that Drewienkiewicz did no such thing. The hostages were released when the Serbian authorities agreed to exchange captured KLA terrorists for them.
Another KVM official, the Canadian Gen. Maisonneuve, also testified for the prosecution. He testified that Gen. Krsman Jelic had refused to meet with him after the events in Racak.
Col. Kotur explained that Jelic and Maisonneuve met without any problem. In fact, as the man in charge of cooperation between the VJ and the KVM, Col. Kotur personally arranged the meeting himself. He even attended the meeting and contrary to the testimony of Maisonneuve, both Gen. Jelic and Col. Petrovic insisted that the VJ had not taken part in the operation at Racak.
Another KVM official, Col. Richard Ciaglinski, also testified for the prosecution. During a closed-session hearing he told the tribunal that Col. Kotur had shown him a map and told him that the Yugoslav Army was going to cleanse Kosovo of its entire Albanian population.
Col. Kotur denied that he said any such thing to Ciaglinski. He said that the prosecutions witness was a liar and that the state security forces never had any plan to cleanse Kosovo of its Albanian population. With that Milosevic ended his examination-in-chief.
