Karzai Demands That NATO Cease Airstrikes on Houses

[tekisui]

Source: LA Times

President Hamid Karzai demanded Tuesday that the NATO force refrain from airstrikes on residential compounds, marking a sharp escalation in his long-running feud with Western commanders over the issue of civilian casualties.

The intensifying dispute came as Western military officials announced the death of a service member in a roadside bombing in eastern Afghanistan. Before the latest death, the website icasualties.org had counted the deaths of 54 NATO troops in May, making this the deadliest month yet in 2011.

Karzai's announcement followed a weekend airstrike in Helmand province that Afghan officials said killed 14 civilians, 11 of them children. The U.S. Marines' commander in the province, Maj. Gen. John Toolan, apologized for what the military said were nine civilian deaths in the bombardment, which was aimed at insurgents who had attacked an American patrol, killing one Marine.

"This should be the last attack on people's houses," the president told a news conference in Kabul. "Such attacks will no longer be allowed."

more: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-afghanistan-karzai-20110601,0,1448735.story