8 Americans, 5 Canadians dead in Afghan attacks
KABUL, Afghanistan
A suicide attacker detonated explosives at Forward Operating
Base Chapman in Khost province near the Afghan border with
Pakistan, killing eight American civilians and wounding others,
U.S. officials in Washington said.
"We mourn the loss of life in this attack, and are withholding
further details pending notification of next of kin," U.S. State
Department spokesman Ian Kelly said.
An attacker wearing a suicide vest caused the explosion,
according to a senior U.S. official in Washington. Another senior
U.S. official in Washington said there were conflicting reports on
the number of casualties, but that others were injured in the
attack. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because not
all details about the incident had been confirmed.
A senior State Department official told The Associated Press on
condition of anonymity that all of the victims were civilians.
However, that could include military contractors and U.S.
intelligence officials.
In Kabul, a spokesman for the international coalition force in
Kabul said no U.S. or NATO troops were killed in the afternoon
explosion.
In the south, NATO said that the four Canadian troops and a
reporter embedded with their unit died when their armored vehicle
hit the bomb while on an afternoon patrol south of Kandahar city.
The Canadian Press identified the journalist as Michelle Lang, a
34-year-old health reporter with the Calgary Herald, who was on her
first assignment to Afghanistan.
The military has not disclosed the names of the troops because
relatives had not all been notified.
"We are all very saddened to hear this tragic news," Alberta
Health and Wellness Minister Ron Liepert said in a statement.
"Michelle covered health issues with professionalism, accuracy and
thoroughness. She was tenacious in her quest to inform Albertans,
and for her diligence she was very well respected."
Brig. Gen. Daniel Menard, commander of coalition forces in
Kandahar, told Canadian Press early Thursday that the soldiers were
conducting a community security patrol in order to gather
information about daily life in the area and how to maintain
security.
Wednesday was the second lethal strike against the Canadian
force in a week. Another Canadian troop and an Afghan soldier were
killed Dec. 23 during a foot patrol in Panjwayi district of
Kandahar province. According to figures compiled by The Associated
Press, the latest casualties bring to 32 the number of Canadian
forces killed in Afghanistan this year; in all, 138 have died in
the war.
Separately on Wednesday, NATO questioned Afghan reports that
international troops killed 10 civilians, including schoolchildren,
in a weekend attack that prompted hundreds of angry Afghan
protesters to burn an effigy of U.S. President Barack Obama and
chant "death" to America.
The head of an investigative team appointed by Afghan President
Hamid Karzai told The Associated Press by telephone that eight
students between the ages of 12 and 14 were among the dead
discovered in a village house in a remote section of Kunar province
in eastern Afghanistan. NATO said in a statement released late
Wednesday night that while there was no direct evidence to
substantiate the claims, the international force had requested and
welcomed a joint investigation to reach an "impartial and accurate
determination" of what happened in the attack.
Conflicting accounts of what occurred during fighting in Kunar's
Narang district prompted an emotional outcry over civilian deaths,
one of the most sensitive issues for international troops fighting
the more than eight-year-old war. Although insurgents are
responsible for the deaths of far more civilians, those blamed on
coalition forces spark the most resentment and undermine the fight
against militants. With 37,000 more U.S. and NATO troops being
deployed to the battle zone, concern over civilian casualties is
unlikely to ease anytime soon.
Several hundred Afghans demonstrated in the capital of Kabul and
in the eastern city of Jalalabad where the likeness of Obama,
adorned with a small American flag, burned on a pole held above
demonstrators.
Several hundred Afghans demonstrated in the capital and in the
eastern city of Jalalabad where the likeness of Obama, adorned with
a small American flag, burned on a pole held above demonstrators.
In Kabul, protesters carried signs that read: "Does peacekeeping
mean killing children?" and "Stop killing us."
Karzai said in a statement that he talked to the relatives of
the Kunar victims to express his condolences and pledge to bring to
justice those responsible for the attack.
Asadullah Wafa, a senior adviser to Karzai who led a 10-member
investigative team to Kunar province, said he was convinced that
all those killed were innocent civilians.
"I have talked to the principal of the school in the village
and he gave us details about the killed children," Wafa said.
"The schoolchildren cannot be al-Qaida."
The bodies had already been buried by the time Wafa's team
arrived on Tuesday.
According to the NATO statement, the initial review by Wafa's
delegation "asserted that the dead were unarmed civilians removed
by international forces from their homes and shot."
The international force's account of what occurred was much
different.
NATO said that on Saturday, a joint coalition and Afghan
security force entered the village of Ghazi Khan looking for an
insurgent group responsible for a series of violent attacks in the
area.
"As the joint assault force entered the village, they came
under fire from several buildings and in returning fire killed nine
individuals," the NATO statement said. "Several assault rifles,
ammunition, and ammonium nitrate used in bomb-making were
discovered."
Col. Wayne Shanks, spokesman for NATO's International Security
Assistance Force in Afghanistan, said at a news conference
Wednesday that the coalition force goes to great lengths to avoid
civilian casualties.
The latest figures released by the United Nations show that
2,021 civilians died during clashes in the first 10 months of this
year, up from 1,838 for the same period last year. International
forces' stepped up efforts to protect the population has reduced
civilian casualties. Taliban insurgents were blamed for 68 percent
of the deaths this year -- three times more than NATO forces,
according to the U.N.