US forces on Wednesday absolved themselves of blame for the deaths of nine children in an air strike, but refused to release their internal inquiry.
The children, aged nine to 12, were killed when a fighter-bomber strafed a mud-walled compound in Ghazni, central Afghanistan, in December. A prompt US apology was made.
The target, a suspected Taliban commander, was not killed, possibly because the wrong house was attacked.
A US spokesman in Kabul, Lieutenant Colonel Bryan Hilferty, said the investigation had found that the pilot followed "appropriate" rules of engagement. The report could not be made public, he said, given "the intelligence and the targeting involved." The UN condemned the killings at the time and has repeatedly called for a public inquiry.
"We did slightly change our rules of engagement after [the] investigation," Colonel Hilferty said, but these changes were also "top secret."
Some 200 tribal chiefs and elders have spent 10 days in Kabul complaining of US tactics in south-eastern Paktika. Their leader, Sher Khan, accused soldiers of detaining and beating innocent people.
"We want US forces to coordinate with us before launching operations, otherwise the misunderstandings and mistrust will grow," he said.
Another chief, Haji Arsala, said the Americans had behaved worse than the Soviet Union's Red Army in the 80s: "They've not done a single bit of reconstruction work in our district. All they've done is give chewing gum to the kids."
Auschwitz survivor Eva Schloss, the stepsister of teenage diarist Anne Frank and a tireless educator about the horrors of the Holocaust, has died. She was 96. The Anne Frank Trust UK, of which Schloss was honorary president, said she died on Saturday in London, where she lived. Britain’s King Charles III said he was “privileged and proud” to have known Schloss, who cofounded the charitable trust to help young people challenge prejudice. “The horrors that she endured as a young woman are impossible to comprehend and yet she devoted the rest of her life to overcoming hatred and prejudice, promoting kindness, courage, understanding
‘DISRESPECTFUL’: Katie Miller, the wife of Trump’s most influential adviser, drew ire by posting an image of Greenland in the colors of the US flag, captioning it ‘SOON’ US President Donald Trump on Sunday doubled down on his claim that Greenland should become part of the US, despite calls by the Danish prime minister to stop “threatening” the territory. Washington’s military intervention in Venezuela has reignited fears for Greenland, which Trump has repeatedly said he wants to annex, given its strategic location in the arctic. While aboard Air Force One en route to Washington, Trump reiterated the goal. “We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it,” he said in response to a reporter’s question. “We’ll worry about Greenland in
PERILOUS JOURNEY: Over just a matter of days last month, about 1,600 Afghans who were at risk of perishing due to the cold weather were rescued in the mountains Habibullah set off from his home in western Afghanistan determined to find work in Iran, only for the 15-year-old to freeze to death while walking across the mountainous frontier. “He was forced to go, to bring food for the family,” his mother, Mah Jan, said at her mud home in Ghunjan village. “We have no food to eat, we have no clothes to wear. The house in which I live has no electricity, no water. I have no proper window, nothing to burn for heating,” she added, clutching a photograph of her son. Habibullah was one of at least 18 migrants who died
Russia early yesterday bombarded Ukraine, killing two people in the Kyiv region, authorities said on the eve of a diplomatic summit in France. A nationwide siren was issued just after midnight, while Ukraine’s military said air defenses were operating in several places. In the capital, a private medical facility caught fire as a result of the Russian strikes, killing one person and wounding three others, the State Emergency Service of Kyiv said. It released images of rescuers removing people on stretchers from a gutted building. Another pre-dawn attack on the neighboring city of Fastiv killed one man in his 70s, Kyiv Governor Mykola
RSS