Afghans protest against US bombing raids

HUNDREDS of Afghans demonstrated on Sunday against an overnight US military raid that had killed several civilians.

The US military claimed that its forces had killed two guerillas.

The angry protesters gathered on the main highway linking Kabul and Kandahar near the site of the raid.

The US claimed that its overnight raid in south-eastern Ghazni province had targeted a militant who co-ordinated attacks using roadside bombs and other weapons.

It said that coalition forces conducting the operation had called out for all inhabitants to leave the targeted home, but several people had barricaded themselves inside one building, before coalition troops forced their way in and killed two militants.

Sayed Ismail Jahangir, a spokesman for Ghazni’s governor, said that local officials had also reported two people killed in the raid. ‘We are now investigating. Who are these two killed, civilians or insurgents?’ he said.

Local protester Baz Mohammad said that six villagers had been killed in the raid.

President Hamid Karzai has pleaded for years with US and NATO forces to prevent the deaths of innocent Afghans during military operations.

Over the last month some 50 Afghans, the vast majority civilians, according to Afghan officials, were killed in three separate US special forces operations.

The deaths prompted Karzai to set a one-month deadline for US officials to respond to his demand that Afghan soldiers lead overnight raids in villages.

Meanwhile, a suicide bomber attacked a convoy of foreign troops in Kabul, wounding two Afghans on Sunday.

Taliban militants claimed responsibility for the attack.

Reprinted from the Morning Star