In memory of and sympathy for

Safia, a girl, 3

A boy, ~10

One woman

Three civilian men

14 civilians wounded: 7 children, a woman, 6 men

in the middle of the night of April 12/13, 2009

in Tangar village, Watapur district of Kunar Province, about 15 kms from Asadadbad. U.S war planes bombed a couple homes in the mountain village, as usual in the middle of the night when family members are asleep. The result was predictable: 6 more dead Afghans and 14 others wounded. The US/NATO propaganda offices stated that “four to eight militants” had been killed based upon “intelligence (sic)” intercepts that hostile elements were present. A 14-yr-old boy, Zakirullah, who was wounded in the “precision” U.S air strike said

We were asleep and all of a sudden the roof collapsed. I don’t remember anything. I got to know here that my father, my mother, my brother and my younger sister have all been killed and I am wounded.

A wounded woman, Shahida, 25, told Agence France Presse from the Asadabad hospital,

We were asleep and heard a strange noise and the roof and walls collapsed. The people took me out of the rubble and there are many still there. I was told none people from my family were killed and wounded. I don’t know who is dead, who is wounded and who is alive in my family.

A man who was a cousin of the victims, Haji Matinullah, said four members of one family died (including an 8-yr-old boy) and two people in other families (including a 3-yr-old girl). He added that 16 people were wounded. Some of these were rushed to the hospital in Asadabad.

A wounded boy in an ambulance in Asadabad (AP photo)

A wounded Afghan man in the Asadabad hospital (AP photo)

Ground Zero in Kunar?

Is this Obama’s “Change We Can Believe In”? Is this any different from under Bush?

Three homes were destroyed. Six civilians killed and another 14-16 wounded. The ratio of wounded to killed in the air attack is about the usual norm (2:1).

When the evidence that civilians were slaughtered became too overwhelming, the U.S. military promised to investigate itself and, as usual, a spokesman Capt. Mark Durkin offered the “We deeply regret any possible civilian injuries…”

Killed or wounded in a midnight “precision” U.S air strike