Unfriendly fire

No matter what really happened during this incident, the damage is done - and it will probably get worse and worse as the story (with some embellishments) makes its way around Afghanistan:

Afghan authorities and witnesses dispute a U.S. military claim that militant gunfire may have caused Afghan civilian deaths after a suicide bomber attacked a convoy of U.S. Marines.

Up to 10 people were killed and 35 were wounded in Sunday's incident. The U.S. military puts the toll at eight, while the Afghan interior ministry uses the higher toll.

The death toll had been pegged as high as 16 in earlier reports. One U.S. soldier was also wounded in the clash.

[...]

Lt. Col. David Accetta, the top U.S. military spokesman in Afghanistan, said the retreating Marines may have come under fire from multiple points.

"It's not entirely clear right now if the people killed or wounded by gunfire were killed or wounded by coalition forces gunfire or enemy attackers gunfire," he said.

Zemeri Bashary of the Afghan interior ministry said the chief of the ministry's criminal division would travel to the area on Monday to lead an investigation.

"The coalition says they have proof that gunmen opened fire," said Bashary. "But I think more of the gunfire was from the (U.S.) side."

Village elder Malik Shan told AP, "I can assure you 100 percent" that there were no militants firing.

Accetta said it's possible villagers wouldn't have seen any attackers firing from covered positions and that they would have focused more on the U.S. vehicles.

Damian P.

Update: another disastrous mistake, according to the Associated Press:

A NATO airstrike destroyed a mud brick home, killing four generations of an Afghan family _ nine people in all _ during a firefight between Western troops and militants, Afghan officials and relatives said Monday.

Militants late Sunday fired on a NATO base in Kapisa province, just north of Kabul. When fighter aircraft returned fire they hit a civilian home, killing five adults and four children between the ages of 6 months and 5 years, said Gulam Nabi, 51, a relative of the victims.

Maj. William Mitchell, a U.S. military spokesman, said officials were looking into the incident. The NATO base in Kapisa is staffed by U.S. forces and sits some 50 miles northeast of Kabul, the capital.

An Associated Press reporter at the scene said a large mud home in a compound of five buildings was destroyed, leaving only exploded bits of mud.

Why do the Taliban (not to mention Iraqi and Palestinian "militants") attack from populated areas? Because it works.

Posted by damian at March 5, 2007 06:53 AM