NATO Airstrike kills 5, wounds 17 in Afghanistan

Associated Press
The Globe and Mail
Wed, 05 Mar 2014 23:10 UTC

© AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilich

Scurry Scurry NATO bombing and shoosting.

A provincial government official says an early morning NATO airstrike in Afghanistan's central Logar province killed 5 Afghan National Army soldiers and wounded another 17.

The official, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to talk to the media, says the strike occurred at 2 a.m. Thursday.

He said government officials were in meetings to decide their response and to conduct a further investigation into the incident.

There was no immediate response from NATO to requests for comment.

If it turns out that a NATO strike killed ANA troops, it is likely to set Afghan President Hamid Karzai on another attack against U.S. and NATO soldiers in his country. The president has been deeply critical of civilian deaths by international forces.

Comment: Great Job NATO: Sign the Pact or we'll withdraw! Then they kill a bunch of people? Wow, what a great way NOT to get what you want. Something smells fishy about this story though.

It may be a scheme to push Afghanistan into the arms of Russia. Or it could just be shortsighted psychopathy at work.

UPDATE:

NATO has just confirmed that it "accidentally" killed 5 soldiers from Afghanistan. Wow. With these kind of friends, who needs enemies?