|
I In
memory of
16
civilians: 6
women, 2 children, and 6
men
Killed
at 4 A.M. on February 16, 2008 Village of Karez
Sultan in the Gozara district of Herat Province, a mountainous region of the
province, located some 20 kms east of Herat city. A “precision” air strike
allegedly targeting a commander of the Hezb-e-Islami group, Yahya Akbari, hit a
nomad tent settlement, killing 6 women, 2 children and five men (see photos)
according to locals and local officials. Three other men were killed who had
come to repair a jeep nearby the nomads. Khair Mohammad said that two of these
men were his brother and his assistant, “he was a mechanic and was taken there
by a person to fix his car. Karim Khan, one of the survivors said aircraft
started bombing the area at 4 in the morning, “13 people from the tents and 3
other visitors were killed.” A later report said that Ghulam Yahya Akbari, the
target of the attack was unhurt, although he said that two of his men along
with a local mechanic were killed in the raid. In other words, 6 civilian men
were killed.
Photos show Afghans carrying body parts of the victims As
usual, the U.S. military propaganda machine asserted on Monday that the “precision”
strike had killed “15 militants” and that it had been called based upon
“credible reports provided by concerned Afghan citizens” that Yahya Akbari was
there. Faced with undeniable evidence from independent sources, the U.S
military finally conceded on Saturday that the air strike had killed 13
civilians and three militants.
Afghan mother crying over her son’s death in Gozara
An
Afghan woman and her daughter mourn after the death of a relative during an air
strike in Herat province, Afghanistan in 2008. The US has admitted that an
airstrike earlier this week killed 13 civilians in Herat (Photo: Fraidoon
Pooyaa / AP) Visitors
to the bombed area also reported that the deadly air strike had killed over 60
animals in the encampment of 100 families. Videos taken in the aftermath showed
mangled, unrecognizable clumps of flesh – all that remained of several people
and dozens of animals killed in the tent encampment. One body was that of a
young boy, bloodied and dirtied, lying in a white shroud. Precisely
killed in a U.S. air strike |
