[NYTr] Canadian Troops Kill, Wound Young Afghan Brothers

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

sent by mart

[Bloody murderers! Enough is enough!  U.S. and NATO out of
Afghanistan and Canada out of NATO...Now!!! - mart]

via Rick Rozoff and Stop NATO
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopnato

CanWest News Service - Oct 2, 2007
http://www.canada.com
http://tinyurl.com/3xsnqh

One Afghan boy killed, brother wounded by Canadian troops
Motorcycle drove too close to convoy

by Matthew Fisher 

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Surgeons at NATO's multinational hospital at
the Kandahar Airfield were working Tuesday to save the life of an
Afghan boy shot in the head at the same time as his older brother was
killed by troops charged with protecting a Canadian convoy.

Ahmed "Sorkai" Zia, 12, was transferred from an Afghan to a Canadian
ambulance at the entrance to Canada's main base in Afghanistan on
Tuesday afternoon, assisted by Canadian, American and British medics.
The boy was conscious, his head swaddled in bandages, but his condition
was described as "serious," according to an Afghan interpreter who
accompanied him and his uncle to the military hospital.

Sorkai was wounded when the motorcycle his brother, Esmatullah, was
riding was shot at by a Canadian combat logistics patrol. Esmatullah
died from a shot to the head. He may have been struck by the same
bullet that wounded Sorkai, who was seated behind him on the motorcycle.

"Whenever they think they want to shoot someone they can. Nobody can
ask anything about it," another of the boys' uncles, Haji Muhammad
Eisah, told CanWest News Service at Esmatullah's funeral which,
according to Muslim custom, was held before dusk. "That's why they
shoot us like goats, like birds, like animals ...

We don't expect them to kill our people, those Canadians, Americans and
foreign people. It would be good if they left our country."

The shooting happened as a group of Canadian vehicles was travelling
through Kandahar City, bringing supplies to forward bases of the Van
Doo battle group in the Panjwaii and Zhari districts of Kandahar
province.

"It was clear that this was an accident and not the result of enemy
activity," said military spokeswoman Capt. Josee Bilodeau. She added
that the "unfortunate incident" is under investigation by military
police.

In a separate statement, NATO's International Security Assistance Force
said the shooting was the result of an equipment malfunction.

"It may or may not have been an equipment problem," said Lt.-Col.
Nicolas Eldaoud, who is responsible for all supply convoys. "We may
know better when the combat logistics patrol returns, but it is still
out on the road right now."

The soldier involved in the shooting was badly shaken and was taken off
the convoy before it left Kandahar, the colonel said.

It was the first such incident involving Afghan civilians in several
months. Because of the high threat posed by suicide bombers driving
trucks, cars, motorcycles and bicycles packed with explosives, Canadian
troops on convoys are authorized to use force if they think they might
be under attack. Twelve of the 71 Canadian soldiers who have died in
Afghanistan have perished in suicide attacks.

"We take all mitigating measures we can," Bilodeau said. "There are
frequent public service announcements on radio and television asking
Afghans to keep their distance form our vehicles and each Canadian
vehicle prominently carries red and white signs that state the same
thing."

© CanWest News Service 2007