US warplanes attack Afghan convoyThe US says its planes have destroyed a convoy carrying Taleban or al-Qaeda members, but some reports suggest they hit the wrong target.
Posted on 12/21/2001 9:43:22 AM PST by acnielsen guy
US warplanes attack Afghan convoyIn light of Paul Sperry's article on restrained targeting by our planes, methinks this source is not worth a lot....
Perhaps the "reception" that they were planning on giving the government that is replacing the Taliban was not going to be very friendly!
Al-Qaeda, meet Mr. Spectre, convoy, meet your demise...
Both might be true.
Rumsfeld says they were bad guys! I'll take his word over Afghan Islamic Diatribe Radio.
One's breathing and the other isn't?
 There were a lot of people killed and a lot of vehicles damaged or destroyed  |
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US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld
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Both accounts speak of heavy casualties.
The Pentagon says AC-130 gunships and fighter jets launched from US aircraft carriers attacked the convoy near the town of Khost, south-west of Tora Bora, the former al-Qaeda stronghold.
A command and control compound from which the convoy of 10 to 12 vehicles had departed was also said to have been hit.
"There were a lot of people killed and a lot of vehicles damaged or destroyed," US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told a news conference in Washington.
A Pentagon spokesman said intelligence reports had indicated that the convoy contained "leadership" but did not specify whether they were Taleban or al-Qaeda leaders.
Conflicting casualty reports
The Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press (AIP), which is generally sympathetic to the Taleban, reported that 65 people were killed in the attack.
Many others were injured when the warplanes attacked, it said.
Several Afghan elders, tribal chiefs and commanders were among the victims of the killings," Sayed Yaqeen, an official of the Paktia tribal council, was quoted as saying.
Fourteen vehicles in the convoy were totally destroyed and, according to one source quoted in the report, the victims included a militia commander, Mohammadi Ibrahim, brother of the Afghan commander Maulvi Jalaluddin Haqqani.
A member of the local government, or shura, in the region told the BBC that 15 people had been killed in the bombing.
It is also being reported that more than 20 civilians were killed when US aircraft bombed the village of Sarkando in the same province.
A number of others were reportedly wounded in the attack in which the village was said to have been destroyed.
LOL
And the muslis love to make stuff up.
Must be a cultural thing: bluster and BS...
Gollee.
Another mistake; So sorry.
These "leaders" got a lot of bucks for allowing Osama and one-eye to escape? Too bad...
Exactly right.
If these targets were a bunch of the 'not-quite-as-bad guys' (I doubt that there are any 'good guys' there) this'll sure teach them about coordinating their convoy movements with us...
In advance.
This says it all about this post. I don't think we made a mistake.
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