In memory of and sympathy for

2 killed: a schoolchild (14) and a young man

At least 50 wounded

At 9:15 AM on June 9, 2009

in Asadabad city, Kunar Province. An explosion in a crowded bazaar near a convoy of U.S. Army troops in northeastern Afghanistan killed one Afghan teenager and a young man on Tuesday and wounded about 50 people, many of them children, officials said. Three U.S. occupation troops were wounded in the blast. Abdul Wahab, 12, lying on a hospital bed in Asadabad with two shrapnel wounds in his leg (photo below) told Reuters, “I was on my way to school. Their tire burst and then a soldier hurled a hand grenade from the convoy.” This account was confirmed by many others present. Seeking to desperately avoid another public relations disaster like Bala Baluk, the U.S authorities produced (from somewhere) a Russian-made grenade pin, asserting that this was the grenade that caused the deadly explosion which killed two and injured close to 50 persons. No explanation was given why so many witnesses said a U.S soldier had hurled the grenade.

The stalled U.S convoy came under small arms fire and fearing a more deadly attack, a panicked U.S soldier probably hurled the deadly grenade to create an escape route. Malavi Ezatallah, a local official, said, “it was daylight. Everybody saw it… [the U.S attack was] a complete cruel crime against civilians.”

 
Predictably, the Associated Press reporters, Jason Straziuso and Amir Shah, highlighted the U.S military version by beginning their article (“Grenade Explosion Kills 2 Afghans…”) with “a Russian-made grenade exploded in a crowd milling around a U.S military vehicle crash…”

Killed and injured by U.S occupation ground forces