|
October 23, 2001
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) -
Following is a list of non-military installations allegedly bombed,
apparently in error, by U.S. forces since they launched attacks on
Afghanistan on Oct. 7.
Some incidents have been confirmed, while no independent confirmation
was available for others. The U.S.-led forces say they are targeting
Taliban military installations and camps and facilities of Saudi born
militant Osama bin Laden.
- - - -
OCTOBER 22
HERAT - The Taliban said United States bombed a 100-bed hospital in
the western city of Herat, killing more than 100. The United Nations
said Tuesday it had learned that a military hospital in a military
compound had been destroyed in Herat on Monday but it had no information
on casualties. A U.S. defense official said in Washington that U.S.
forces might have accidentally hit a home for the elderly in Herat
Monday.
OCTOBER 17
KANDAHAR - Taliban Information Ministry official Abdul Hanan Himat
said a U.S. bomb hit a truck packed with Afghans trying to flee air
raids on the town of Chunai near the southern Taliban stronghold of
Kandahar.
He said all those in the truck had been killed but gave no casualty
figure. No independent verification was possible.
OCTOBER 16
KABUL - U.S. bombs hit warehouses operated by the International
Committee of the Red Cross in Kabul, destroying tents, tarpaulins,
blankets and other aid supplies intended for internally displaced
Afghans.
ICRC said it was clearly a civilian facility, marked with a large red
cross on the roof. An ICRC Afghan employee was injured.
The Pentagon said a U.S. Navy F/A-18 Hornet jet dropped 1,000-pound
bombs that inadvertently hit one or more ICRC warehouses. U.S. forces
had targeted a series of warehouses believed to be used by the Taliban
to store military equipment, the Pentagon statement said.
"Military vehicles had been seen in the vicinity of these warehouses.
U.S. forces did not know that the ICRC was using one or more of the
warehouses," the statement said.
OCTOBER 13
KABUL - A U.S. Navy F/A-18 attack aircraft missed a Taliban military
target at Kabul airport and its 2,000-pound "smart" bomb blasted
civilian houses a mile from the Afghan capital, the Pentagon said.
A U.S. defense official said the satellite-guided bomb had missed
because of human error, in that incorrect coordinates had been entered
into a targeting system.
The Pentagon cited reports of as many as four dead and eight injured.
A Reuters reporter said at least one man was killed and four injured.
OCTOBER 11
JALALABAD - The Taliban say U.S. bombs flattened Khorum village, near
the eastern city of Jalalabad. Villagers said at least 160 people were
killed in the pre-dawn bombing.
International journalists invited to visit the village saw evidence
of widespread devastation and more than a dozen fresh graves but it was
impossible to confirm the death toll or what had caused the damage.
Rumsfeld did not deny the area had been targeted, but described the
alleged death toll as "ridiculous" and said the remote mountainous area
was riddled with tunnels containing munitions.
OCTOBER 9
KABUL - A U.S. bomb struck a U.N.-funded demining office in Kabul,
killing four people and slightly wounding one. The attack destroyed the
four-story building.
"People need to distinguish between combatants and those innocent
civilians who do not bear arms," U.N. Afghanistan coordinator for
humanitarian aid Mike Sackett said after the incident.
U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld expressed regret for the
deaths of the four Afghans, but said he did not know if they had been
killed by U.S. weapons and added that some civilian casualties were
inevitable.
14:14 10-23-01
|