Three civilians were killed in an overnight raid in the Nawar District of the Ghazni Province when NATO soldiers targeted them. Angry tribesmen from the region arrived in the provincial capital with the bodies, protesting and demanding US apologies for the killings.
NATO declined any comments on those killings, but issued a report relating to night raids in the nearby Rashidan Province, claiming they had killed “over a dozen” insurgents, but no civilians in the attacks on five buildings. It is unclear, then, if the three killed today were from those attacks or a separate, as yet unannounced attack.
Provincial Intelligence Chief Sayyed Amir Shah confirmed that the slain were civilians and promised to take up the issue with the US military. Most such killings, however, result in little more than an expression of vague “regret.”
The Ghazni Province has seen a rise in local support for the insurgency in recent months, following the Electoral Complaints Commission’s decision to ban every single Pashtun candidate for parliament in the province. Much of Ghazni is dominated by Pashtun tribesmen, and a number of leaders said they would seek closer ties to the Taliban because it was clear they had no voice in the US backed government.
Winning hearts and minds… Oh wait, they blew them up 🙂
If they were "NATO Troops" why would the locals be demanding US apologies?
Why do you allow the US government to hide behind "NATO" when nearly every incident you report on is clearly an incident that involves US soldiers? The whole practice is just plain disgusting and it is wrong. It is as if you really have no confidence in coming out with the truth and must always hide the story in this phony "NATO" rhetoric.
Does the Red Cross or any other international agency monitor and/or investigate these kind of things?