[BalkanBaller]

KABUL, Afghanistan - A U.N. human-rights team has found “convincing evidence” that some 90 civilians - among them 60 children - were killed in airstrikes on a village in western Afghanistan on Thursday night, a statement issued by the U.N. mission in Kabul said, making it almost certainly the deadliest case of civilian casualties caused by any U.S. military operation in Afghanistan since 2001.

The U.N. team visited the scene and interviewed survivors and local officials and elders, getting a name, age and sex of each person reported killed. The team reported that 15 people had been injured in the airstrikes, which occurred in the middle of the night.

The numbers were similar to those given by a government commission sent from Kabul to investigate the bombing, which put the total dead at up to 95.

Mohammad Iqbal Safi, the head of the parliamentary defense committee and a member of the commission, said the 60 children were between 3 months and 16 years old, all killed as they slept. “It was a heartbreaking scene,” he said.

The death toll may even rise higher, since heavy lifting gear is needed to uncover all the remains, said one Western official who had seen the U.N. report.

“This is a matter of grave concern to the United Nations,” Kai Eide, the U.N. special representative for Afghanistan, said in a statement. “It is vital that the international and Afghan military forces thoroughly review the conduct of this operation in order to prevent a repeat of this tragic incident,” he said.

The U.N. report adds pressure on the U.S. military, which has to date said only that 25 militants and five civilians were killed in the airstrikes, which were aimed at a Taliban leader named Mullah Saddiq. The military announced it was conducting an investigation after the high civilian death toll was reported.

The bombing occurred about midnight, the U.N. statementsaid. “Foreign and Afghan military personnel entered the village of Nawabad in the Azizabad area of Shindand district,” it said. “Military operations lasted several hours during which airstrikes were called in.”

“The destruction from aerial bombardment was clearly evident, with some seven to eight houses having been totally destroyed and serious damage to many others,” it said.

The parliament member, Safi, said the villagers were preparing for a ceremony the next morning in memory of a man who had died some time before. Extended families from two tribes were visiting the village and there were the lights of cooking fires as the adults were preparing food for the ceremony, he said.

How the military happened to call in airstrikes on a civilian gathering still remains unclear. Safi and Maulavi Gul Ahmad, another member of the parliament, who is from the area, said the villagers blamed tribal enemies for giving the military false intelligence.

“According to the villagers their enemies give false report to Americans that foreign fighters were gathering in the village,” Safi said.

Ahmad directly blamed the U.S. Special Forces, who are training the Afghan National Army and were present in the joint operation.

“I can’t blame the Afghan National Army for the incident, as they had no authority for leading the operation,” Ahmad said.

The government commission met with the commander of the U.S. forces in Herat province but he declined to answer their questions, saying the U.S. military was conducting its own investigation, government officials said.

Russia, at odds with the United States and much of the West over its recognition of two breakaway regions in the Central Asian country of Georgia, was to raise the issue at the Security Council.

Meanwhile, the U.N. anti-drug chief said Tuesday that drought and anti-drug campaigns helped slash Afghanistan’s opium poppy cultivation by 19 percent this year compared with 2007, but because of a rise in yield, opium production this year will fall only 6 percent compared with last year’s record haul. Taliban militants could still derive up to $70 million from the harvest.

The country is still far and away the world’s leading source of the heroin-producing crop, a new U.N. report said.

Information for this article was contributed by Abdul Waheed Wafa of The New York Times and by Jason Straziuso of The Associated Press.

Wtf is wrong with America. Killing 60 children.

[stawka]

WTF is wrong with the Afghan's? How many did they kill on 9-11! It's sad, but this BS has to stop. It starts with 1 kunt, then another one goes at it. These fukin ego-heads we call presidents that run our countries are destroying the world, and they don't give a fuk

[BalkanBaller]

Originally Posted by stawka

WTF is wrong with the Afghan's? How many did they kill on 9-11! It's sad, but this BS has to stop. It starts with 1 kunt, then another one goes at it. These fukin ego-heads we call presidents that run our countries are destroying the world, and they don't give a fuk

I don't think children killed those people.

[310Hoodstar]

i dont see how we are surprised because americans are the biggest terrorists

[halfHAVOC]

Originally Posted by stawka

WTF is wrong with the Afghan's? How many did they kill on 9-11! It's sad, but this BS has to stop. It starts with 1 kunt, then another one goes at it. These fukin ego-heads we call presidents that run our countries are destroying the world, and they don't give a fuk

you're the most ignorant person alive.

Yes, Afghan civllians killed americans on 9/11.

Yes, it is certain the terrorist that did the attacks were from aghanistan

No, Terrorist do not travel to all different countries and fire attacks, they are all from afghanistan born and raised to kill americans, and it really does matter what country they are from because they are usually a national army.

.............[/sarcasm]
you're such a F**king disgrace to humanity.

----------------

anyway this is really F**KED up , R.I.P to all those children and other civillians.

[310Hoodstar]

Originally Posted by halfHAVOC

you're the most ignorant person alive.

Yes, Afghan civllians killed americans on 9/11.

Yes, it is certain the terrorist that did the attacks were from aghanistan

No, Terrorist do not travel to all different countries and fire attacks, they are all from afghanistan born and raised to kill americans, and it really does matter what country they are from because they are usually a national army.

.............[/sarcasm]
you're such a F**king disgrace to humanity.

----------------

anyway this is really F**KED up , R.I.P to all those children and other civillians.

not quite dude
the terrorist kids are taught to kill americans
some dont even know about america
some people would like america to take over afghanistan because they live a ****ed up life
but it all comes down to religion and beliefs

[halfHAVOC]

Originally Posted by 310Hoodstar

not quite dude
the terrorist kids are taught to kill americans
some dont even know about america
some people would like america to take over afghanistan because they live a ****ed up life
but it all comes down to religion and beliefs

first off let me say, i did not say anything about "terrorist kids".

this doesn't even have to do with "terrorist kids" this is about bombing civillians, those "terrorist kids" would be with their entire sect, not just living a normal life in afghanistan , ready to bust out an AK and start shooting people.............no-where in the article does it state anything about "terrorist kids" so thats not even relevant to the situation, but since you want to talk about that

you're right in the fact
those are the kids that are in the training camps for like al-qaudea and ****.

its just like the kids in africa in places like sudan and if u ever seen hotel rwanda how they steal kids and take them its like that especially ones that are orphans.

but
its not like you go to school in afghanistan if there even is one and go kill america, or live in your tiny tent with ur 10 family members going kill america, this is all america's fault. thats only if you're in terrorist trainin camps taught that since you are young, and you can't control that.

and it's not like all terorist are from afghanistan becuase thats the way many of you people portray it, and its not like the kids are the masterminds behind terrorist attacks, you don't even know WHO did the attacks, you CAN'T PROVE ANYTHING! You can't just say it was terrorist from afghanistan or whatnot, it could be a conspiracy behind all of it if anything, just because terrorist took credit for it like al-qaudea that takes credit for any terrorist-related thing for the glory, doesn't mean they did it.

[Vladimir_Radmanovic]

Americans have a wrong strategy in both Afghanistan and Iraq. If they obtain information that the terrorists are hiding in some neighborhoods, they will wipe out the whole area with bombs. There will be a lot of dead people, including many innocents. When some Afghan or Iraqi sees that, he will join Al Qaeda or other terrorist group to fight jihad against Americans. Americans are basically recruiting terrorists with their actions.

I think that these wars will last for many years. Just look at the wars in Sudan :

First Sudanese Civil War 1955-1972
Second Sudanese Civil War 1983-2005
War in Darfur 2003-present

Americans should withdraw from both wars.

[halfHAVOC]

Originally Posted by Vladimir_Radmanovic

Americans have a wrong strategy in both Afghanistan and Iraq. If they obtain information that the terrorists are hiding in some neighborhoods, they will wipe out the whole area with bombs. There will be a lot of dead people, including many innocents. When some Afghan or Iraqi sees that, he will join Al Qaeda or other terrorist group to fight jihad against Americans. Americans are basically recruiting terrorists with their actions.

I think that these wars will last for many years. Just look at the wars in Sudan :

First Sudanese Civil War 1955-1972
Second Sudanese Civil War 1983-2005
War in Darfur 2003-present

Americans should withdraw from both wars.

yup .

[Linas]

Originally Posted by Vladimir_Radmanovic

I think that these wars will last for many years.

Those are the neverending wars that will last for as long as USA stays there. Soviet Union has been there for 10 years till they realised they have lost. Let's see how much time US will need to realise the same. But time=lives..