An investigation by Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai has confirmed reports that a US air strike in the Deh Bala district of Nangarhar province July 6 killed 47 members of a wedding party, including the bride. The investigation found that 39 of the dead were women and children. NATO still maintains the victims were insurgents. (The Independent [2], July 13) Karzai has also ordered an investigation into a July 4 helicopter strike in Nuristan [3] in which the provincial governor said 22 civilians were killed and seven wounded. (NYT [4], July 7)
This gives us deja vu [5] all over again [6].
See our last posts on Afghanistan [7] and civilian casualties [8].
