Taliban Use Kids As Shields In Afghanistan Battle
KABUL, Afghanistan - The U.S.-led coalition reported that the Taliban used children as human shields during a battle in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday.
The fighting in Uruzgan province began when more than 20 insurgents armed with machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars attacked a joint Afghan and coalition patrol Wednesday morning, the coalition said in a statement.
As a coalition aircraft prepared to bomb the site, “coalition forces as well as the aircraft identified several insurgents in one compound using children as human shields,” it said. Ground forces and the aircraft withheld fire to avoid injuring the children. It was impossible to independently verify the coalition allegations.
The troops fought Taliban trying to flee the compound, and more than a dozen suspected militants were killed, the coalition said. There were no reports of casualties to troops or civilians.
About 2,500 Afghan and NATO troops launched a new military operation Wednesday in Afghanistan’s most violent southern province. The operation is in the Gereshk region of Helmand province, the site of the fiercest battles this year and the world’s largest opium-producing region.
The NATO force said the troops would conduct “security and stabilization” operations in the upper Gereshk Valley, but provided no other details.
Insurgency-related violence has killed more than 4,500 people this year, including 3,100 militants and 600 civilians, according to an Associated Press tally of figures from Western and Afghan officials.
The U.S. Embassy in Kabul warned its citizens that suicide bomb attacks were expected to increase during the holy month of Ramadan.
In the latest terror attack, a suicide bomb attack in the Garmsir district of Helmand wounded eight officers, said provincial police chief Mohammad Hussein Andiwal.
In Kabul, a suicide bomber blew himself up on the road leading to the U.S. air base in Bagram, the Interior Ministry said. No one else was hurt.
In southern Zabul province, Taliban terrorists killed three security guards protecting a construction project in Qalat, said Gulab Shah Alikhail, spokesman for the governor.
(AP)
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Allegations. WTF is this fool talking about. Terry the Talibastard doesn’t have the balls to fight like men; because when they try, they die in large numbers. Firing from behind women and children is their hallmark. That’s what cowards do.
September 19th, 2007 at 11:50 amI wonder if this is covered in the Geneva conventions as an acceptable act on their part?(dripping sarcasm intended)
September 19th, 2007 at 12:23 pmIt seems that the same thing is going on in Darfur. This may not be exactly the humanitarian effort the democrats want, but, given that the same thing is going on in both places, what difference does it make where we are? democrats are very good at pretending, pretend that Afghanistan is Darfur.
September 19th, 2007 at 12:43 pmsame shit , different day. nothing like this will ever change the minds of liberals or the MSM so we shouldnt bother reporting it anymore. liberals are locked in the notion that this war is unjustified and the adefense of afghanistan and iraq is justifiable by anymeans necessary because our enemies are the ultimate victims.
Pathetic
September 19th, 2007 at 10:19 pmActually, Top, it’s explicitly prohibited. It’s one of the triggers for denying combatants the rights of legitimate soldiers before, during, and after capture.
September 20th, 2007 at 11:08 am