Taliban Forced Civilians To Stay in Homes That Were Struck

No surprise, these slime love civilian casualties:

WASHINGTON (May 10, 2009) – Taliban operatives shaking down villages for money appear to have forced civilians to remain in buildings that were bombed in the course of a long May 4 firefight, the commander of U.S. Central Command said Sunday.

Gen. David H. Petraeus said on “Fox News Sunday” that a joint U.S.-Afghan investigation team looking into the incident addressed the events leading up to the aerial attack targeting Taliban fighters in which an undetermined number of Afghan civilians were killed.

“The Taliban moved into these villages seeking to extort money from them,” Petraeus said. The Taliban killed and beheaded three villagers and then attacked the Afghan police. This, the general said, led to the police asking the provincial governor for help from the Afghan National Army and coalition forces.

“It was in that response that this very significant firefight broke out that ultimately resulted in the dropping of bombs that clearly killed Taliban and some civilians,” he said. “It appears the Taliban forced the civilians to stay in the houses from which they were engaging our forces.”

Preliminary findings by the joint investigation team cite evidence that Taliban fighters may have caused civilian casualties in the villages. According to a statement issued jointly by the Afghan government and U.S. Forces Afghanistan yesterday, investigators interviewed the surgeon and staff of the Farah Hospital and the three doctors on duty the day after the incident. They treated 16 patients -- five police and 11 civilians -- for flash burns and small lacerations. Afghan doctors said the injuries could have resulted from hand grenades or exploding propane tanks“The local doctors also confirmed that the Taliban were fighting from the rooftops while forcing the locals to remain in their compounds,” the statement said. “Locals receiving medical treatment repeated this information to the doctors several times. The doctors also received a call, while the investigators where present, indicating that the Taliban extremists had executed another civilian in the same village.”.

Bastards.
They are still at it:

KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) -- A Taliban suicide bomb squad disguised as regular Afghan army troops stormed a strategic city close to the border with Pakistan Tuesday, prompting a fierce six-hour battle with U.S. troops, local officials and the U.S. military said.The insurgents attacked a municipal building in the center of the city of Khost, a U.S. military spokesman said. At least 10 suicide bombers were killed in the attacks, which also left five troops and four civilians dead, Afghan police said.

Local police chief Abdul Qayum Baqee Zoi told CNN the attacks, which ended at 4:30 p.m. involved 10 Taliban suicide bombers in Afghan National Army uniforms and explosive vests. Seven detonated and three were shot dead.

A U.S. military spokesman said the city -- a hotbed of Taliban activity --remained volatile as reports of running battles, kidnappings and fatalities surfaced.

The developments came shortly after the United States announced it was changing its military leadership in Afghanistan, replacing Gen. David McKiernan with Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, a former special operations chief.

Tuesday's fighting began when U.S. forces responded to a suicide bomber at a government compound in the city and came under heavy attack, the U.S. military spokesman said.