Afghan Victims Disputed After U.S. Strike

U.S. Says 30 Militants Killed; Afghan Ministry Says Dozens Of Children And Women Perish

(AP)  U.S.-led troops attacked a compound where Taliban leaders were meeting in western Afghanistan, killing 30 militants, American and Afghan military officials said Friday.

The coalition was striking back against insurgents opposed to the Western-backed government of President Hamid Karzai who have stepped up attacks on foreign and Afghan troops.

The coalition said its troops called in airstrikes on the compound in the Shindand district of Herat province on Thursday.

Some 30 militants were killed and five others were detained, spokesman 1st Lt. Nathan Perry said. The troops found a haul of weapons and ammunition inside the compound, he said.

Afghan officials issued contradictory statements about what had happened and it was not immediately clear why they offered such differing accounts.

An Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman, Gen. Mohammad Zaher Azimi, confirmed the clash but said five of the 30 dead were civilians.

However, the Afghan Interior Ministry claimed that U.S. coalition bombs killed 76 civilians, including 19 women and 50 children under the age of 15. The ministry called the bombing a "mistake."

U.S. military spokeswoman Lt. Col. Rumi Nielson-Green said a thorough assessment was done after the battle and that the coalition knows it killed 30 militants, including a high-ranking Taliban leader.

"We stand by our account and our reports and what we know and I can't reconcile why (the Interior Ministry) would have a different figure," Nielson-Green said.

The operation was launched after an intelligence report that a Taliban commander, Mullah Siddiq, was inside the compound presiding over a meeting of militants, Azimi said. Siddiq was one of those killed during the raid, Azimi said.

A roadside bomb in the country's east, meanwhile, killed a U.S. coalition service member on Friday, the U.S. military said in a statement. The coalition did not provide other details on the incident or the victim's nationality.

Another roadside blast Friday hit an Italian army's armored vehicle some 12 miles north of Kabul, wounding three Italian soldiers Friday, the Italian Defense Ministry said.

Separately, Afghan and international troops clashed Thursday with militants in Khas Uruzgan district of Uruzgan province, killing 11 militants, said provincial police Chief Juma Gul Himat.

Three Afghan troops were wounded in the fight, Himat said. Authorities recovered the bodies of the dead militants, he said.

While most of Afghanistan's violence affects the southern and eastern regions that border Pakistan, militants have also been active in western areas bordering Iran.

In another clash Thursday involving airstrikes, the U.S.-led coalition said its forces killed "multiple militants" in the northern Kapisa province.

The operation in Tagab district targeted a Taliban commander involved in weapons smuggling and suicide attacks against Afghan and foreign troops, the coalition said.

Tagab is close to where militants killed 10 French troops on Tuesday in the deadliest ground attack on foreign troops since the Taliban were ousted from power in 2001.

More than 3,400 people - mostly militants - have been killed in insurgency-related violence this year, according to figures from Western and Afghan officials.

[rosieod4prez]

middleman8 - Iraq had the fourth largest army in the world, armed with the best of ivan''s weapons.

The difference is - the US soldier is the best. He is allowed autonomy to be flexible on the battlefield.

He can adapt.

Every army we face had paid an extremely heavy price, whatever their goal, and few have succeeded in obtaining their goals.


Even outnumbered we went thru Saddam''s armies like they didn''t exist. They couldn''t wait to surrender, and those that stood their ground paid with their lives in a virtual shooting gallery, which only served to make our troops veterans of battle.

[rosieod4prez]

dafras - I couldn''t care less about the Jews in your country.

You radical Muslims just don''t get it do you ?

You take down two buildings, we take down two Muslim Extreamist countries.



You blow up a nuke in the US - we take out Mecca, Tehran, and anyone else associated with your sick, twisted, pervertion of Islam.



You will NEVER win when fighting the true will of the home of the free and the land of the brave.

Your perversion will pass, just as the Japanese perversion did during WWII.

[zwaggsy]

While the childish comments here have been entertaining what both sides seem to miss is this. It isn''t the taliban thats claiming civilians killed it''s the Coalition endorsed defence ministry! This means one off two things, 1:You realy did kill a shed load off civvies in wich case you just gave the taliban all the propaganda they ever needed OR, 2:The Afghan government lied, in wich case the government that we installed to fight the taliban are in fact working for them! Am I the only one who thinks we have some serious problems out off this ignorant policy?

[libsluv2spit]

What is the reason for all these foot soldiers in Iraq and Afgan.?Every time there is a sign of fighting, the fly boys are called in and demolish everything, the the foot troops go in and all casualties are automatic terrorist armed to the teeth with WMD''''s. Best not try it with Ivan he is armed.


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Posted by middleman8 at 06:03 PM : Aug 22, 2008
+ report abuse

***********

because despite of what the liberal say that we kill everything that breath in middle east..we target insurgents..we cannot simply ''carpet bomb'' the whole area because it would reap a HUGE casualty..then we bring in our troops in to clear the garbage..that is when the cockroaches at dug themselves deep would come out..

[libsluv2spit]

And you get all of your info from bush and McBush.

Guess who''''s more misinformed?


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Posted by hungry1968 at 05:37 PM : Aug 22, 2008
+ report abuse


********************

what are you 9??

yeah keep on getting your ''news'' from comedy central from a cartoon character..seeesh

[libsluv2spit]

Posted by bobnjersey at 05:45 PM : Aug 22, 2008
+ report abuse

************

despite the undeniable huge pulsating di ldo that the DNC had shoved up your liberal arses..a betrayal i call it, you tend to ignore it..

here try this link from the most liberal newsource and read it for yourself..


http://search.latimes.com/search?q=nancy%20pelosi%20impeachment&site=lat_topics&entqr=3&output=xml_no_dtd&sort=date%3AD%3AL%3Ad1&entsp=0&client=latimes&ud=1&oe=UTF-8&ie=UTF-8&proxystylesheet=latimes&getfields=thumbnail_small.author.pubdate

[middleman8]

What is the reason for all these foot soldiers in Iraq and Afgan.?Every time there is a sign of fighting, the fly boys are called in and demolish everything, the the foot troops go in and all casualties are automatic terrorist armed to the teeth with WMD''s. Best not try it with Ivan he is armed.

[bobnjersey]

[well..where are we on that impeachment?? ever wonder why nancy pelosi, who''''s party was voted in power because they promised an impeachment, all of a sudden retracted??

EVER WONDERED WHY???]
[Posted by libsluv2spit at 04:48 PM : Aug 22, 2008]

you don''t take on a fight you know you can''t win.

she knew she didn''t have the votes to succeed ... since all the republicans will line up behind their boy in the white house and defend him regardless ... just like you and the other 27%''ers continue to do to this day.

it would be a devisive strategy that would tie up the congress ... and potentially reflect badly on those who brought it forward.

your problem is you''re thinking like a republican ... and their mantra, whether they admit it or not, is ''ends justify means'' ... so initiating impeachment proceedings for political gain is considered normal (to a right thinker).

[hungry1968]

I would NOT DOUBT THAT..it does look like bug bunny does all the thinking for you.

Posted by libsluv2spit at 04:59 PM : Aug 22, 2008





And you get all of your info from bush and McBush.

Guess who''s more misinformed?

[hungry1968]

so basically hungry and six-seis-six can''''t think for themselves so they get advice from a cartoon character. enough said about those two bozos.

Posted by jamesm12341 at 05:11 PM : Aug 22, 2008






This from a guy that is mentally unable to comment on a story!!

LOL!!

[ajaxtheleast]

STILL killing "terrorists" in the two
countries that the "greatest" (and militarily
speaking it is) army in the world invaded,one
legally and one illegally, either says
something about terrorists, or the folks of
our greatest army in the world running
around these invaded countries sporting
a batting average of 400.

4 hits out of every 10 at-bats was great for
Ted Williams !

4 civilians out of every ten air strikes for
Patraeous,,,not so good.

Seven years count ''em
seven years of
alibis.

[rudy654-2009]

I would NOT DOUBT THAT..it does look like bug bunny does all the thinking for you.


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Posted by libsluv2spit at 04:59 PM

It''s probably more a matter of trust. Can''t trust someone who lies constantly.

[libsluv2spit]

I''''d believe Bugs Bunny, before I believed the Bush regime.


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Posted by hungry1968 at 04:56 PM : Aug 22, 2008
+ report abuse


***********

I would NOT DOUBT THAT..it does look like bug bunny does all the thinking for you.

[libsluv2spit]

libsluv2spit at .. ok ok, no combat boots,
but does she Chew Tobaccy and gum a smoke pipe?


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Posted by six-seis-six at 04:54 PM : Aug 22, 2008
+ report abuse

******************

and what does that got to do with the topic??
(are you catching on with what I am saying?)

[hungry1968]

no surprise there since that phonecall i described was 12 1/2 years ago

Posted by jamesm12341 at 04:55 PM : Aug 22, 2008





So it was BEFORE you were born?

[hungry1968]

they get their "facts" from michael moore and bill maher

Posted by jamesm12341 at 04:54 PM : Aug 22, 2008





I''d believe Bugs Bunny, before I believed the Bush regime.

[libsluv2spit]

We are not fighting an ideology - that''''s NOTHING but *********.

Which religious or political leader has EVER advocated fighting us based on their religious principles or beliefs? Hint - no one.

Even bin Laden himself said the reason that they attacked us is because of our support of Israel, and because we still had troops in Saudi Arabia.

No ideology was involved.


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Posted by hungry1968 at 04:49 PM : Aug 22, 2008
+ report abuse


************

and you honestly believe that..is that why they call it a ''jihad''?? or they call you an ''infadel''..

[hungry1968]

And your retorts are getting shorter and less coherent..what else are you going to say as a ''''fact'''' that my mother wears combat boots??

you guys need a new micheal moore..your ''''facts'''' are pretty old and stale

Posted by libsluv2spit at 04:53 PM : Aug 22, 2008





The facts don''t change.

Only the BS from the right does.

[hungry1968]

hungry called up his wife the other day and said "honey i am thinking about the last time we had s*x i am getting excited"....his wife said "who is this?"

Posted by jamesm12341 at 04:44 PM : Aug 22, 2008





I wouldn''t be surprised - since I''ve been divorced for over 12 years!!

[libsluv2spit]

libsluv2spit,

typical repub, nothing new, no intellectual capacity whatsoever.....


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Posted by six-seis-six at 04:50 PM : Aug 22, 2008
+ report abuse


***********

And your retorts are getting shorter and less coherent..what else are you going to say as a ''fact'' that my mother wears combat boots??

you guys need a new micheal moore..your ''facts'' are pretty old and stale