“Collateral” tragedies: Civilian deaths in Afghanistan
The United Nations has found convincing evidence, based on the testimony of eyewitnesses, that some 90 civilians were killed, including 60 children, by Nato bombers in Afghanistan on August 21.
The UN investigation found that “the destruction from aerial bombardment was clearly evident with some seven to eight houses having been totally destroyed and serious damage to many others. Local residents were able to confirm the number of casualties – including names, age and gender of the victims.”
This is far from an isolated incident.
In the latest case at the end of August over 70 people are believed to have been killed in a massive bombardment of villages in southern Helmand province.
In July, coalition troops admitted that air strikes in Helmand killed civilians, as local people claimed that between 50 and 80 people, many of them women and children, had died.
Also that month, 47 people were killed and nine wounded on their way to a wedding in eastern Afghanistan. Among the dead were 39 women and children, including the bride-to-be.
More than 200 civilians were killed by coalition troops in Afghanistan in June, far more than are believed to have been killed by Taliban militants. The growing toll of civilian deaths came as the US airforce disclosed that it dropped over 272 tonnes of bombs on Afghanistan in June and July this year – more than the whole of 2006.
And how has this story been covered in the British media? Paratroopers shot dead four Afghan civilians on July 26, close to the site where, less than 48 hours earlier, snipers had killed a British army dog handler – and his dog.
None of the media coverage named the dead Afghans. But several outlets named the dog that died, and its pedigree.
