Terrorists kill 33 afghans

[AhlulbaytSoldier]

NATO blitz kills 33 Afghan civilians



KABUL (Agencies) -- Afghan government officials said on Monday at least 33 civilians, including women and children, have been killed in a NATO attack on a convoy of vehicles in Uruzgan Province, AFP reported.


This is the third mistaken bombing raid in Afghanistan in a week and forced another apology from a top U.S. commander.

Zemarai Bashary, the spokesman for the Interior Ministry, said the civilians were traveling in three cars when they were mistaken for militants and bombed by ISAF aircraft.

The American commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, apologized to Afghan President Hamid Karzai and ordered an investigation into what happened.

The deaths in Uruzgan come close on the heels of an emotional appeal by Karzai in a parliamentary session on Saturday, when he urged NATO forces to limit civilian casualties to a minimum. He held up a picture of an eight-year-old girl who lost 12 relatives in a NATO rocket attack during the second day of the assault on Marjah -- Operation Mushtarak -- which began on Feb. 13.

15 killed in suicide bombing

A police official says a suicide bomber has killed 15 people in eastern Afghanistan, including a key tribal leader, reported AP.

Police Gen. Mohammad Ayub Salangi says the bomber set off his explosives next to a small group of tribal elders and government workers as they were meeting Monday with a few hundred Afghan refugees who had recently returned from Pakistan.

He says 15 people were killed in the blast in Nangarhar province and at least 15 others wounded. Among the dead was Mohammad Zaman, an influential tribal leader in the area and a former mujahedeen fighter.

Photo: Afghans walks behind U.S. Marines from Bravo Company of the 1st Battalion, 6th Marines during an operation in Marjah, February 21, 2010. (Reuters photo)

-