NATO Air Strike Kills Four Guards in Southern Afghanistan

Fresh off of admissions that NATO had launched an air strike in the eastern province of Kunar that killed nine children gathering firewood, police in the southwestern province of Helmand say that NATO air stirkes killed four security guards there as well.

The strike took place in Helmand’s Gerishk District, and NATO says that they were targeting “suspected militants” they thought were involved in a previous strike on a ground patrol. Instead, they hit the security guards for a road construction crew, killing four and wounding another.

Such strikes have plagued the NATO occupation of Afghanistan and sparked major anti-NATO and anti-US sentiment amongst the population. This sparked moves by former commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal to dramatically curb air strikes.

Though it did not end the killings of civilians and allies, the McChrystal curbs did reduce them somewhat. Since his replacement by Gen. Petraeus attacks are up, not just to previous levels but to new record highs, and predictably, the reports of civilian killings are spiking again.