http://mwaw.org/article.php?sid=328

Clinic bombed in Kandahar

By Shahzad Ahmad, Pakistan, 1 November

Dr. Wazir of Wazir Clinic (a dispensary serving injured Afghanis during this crisis) in Kandahar reports that a bomb hit his clinic yesterday, 31 October, killing all 11 medical staff and patients who were present there for treatment.

He reports that US bombers have completely eliminated two villages in the suburbs of Kandahar using carpet bombing. It appears the death toll wasn't that high because the population had already shifted to the mountains or migrated to the Pakistani border. [MM]


They also report on the previous bombing of an Afghan village (see Afghan village targetted and Afghan village bombed

http://mwaw.org/article.php?sid=339&mode=thread&order=0

US bombs obliterate Afghan village: 60 killed

From Dawn, Pakistan, 2 November

CHOKAR KARAIZ, AFGHANISTAN, 1 Nov

Rubble and fresh graves marked with the flags of martyrs are all that remains of this tiny Afghan village after US bombing killed at least 60 people, survivors said Thursday.

Locals said about 20 villagers survived attacks on October 19 and 20, when wave after wave of US jets pounded the community with heavy bombs and cannon fire, destroying everything in sight.

Foreign reporters brought here by the Taliban militia saw the devastation first-hand: every house had been flattened and huge craters could be seen in the surrounding fields.

"Around midnight the bombing started. It lasted for two hours and then the next night it began again and lasted all night and the rest of the following day," said 36-year-old farmer Mehmood.

"When it started everyone just fled their homes and ran in every direction. We didn't know where to go."

He said he knew 19 people who had died in the attacks, including members of his extended family.

The village, 60 kilometres north of Kandahar, was a scene of utter ruin. Long cracks had opened up in the ground where the bombs struck. Trees were broken and splintered, cars burned and torn. Even cooking pots were riddled with bullets holes.

Huge chunks of shrapnel lay everywhere. One bore the words "Guided Bomb" while another was marked with "For use of MK82". "Many bodies were blown apart and all we could do was collect their limbs and put them together in the same grave," said 65-year-old Mungal as he showed a freshly-dug graveyard.

"I brought some of the remains here in a tractor," he said, pointing to a line of 18 new graves, some of which had been marked with small coloured flags on long, thin poles, signifying martyrdom.

Mungal, who said he lost most of his friends and family in the attack, claimed that the remains of 30 people were buried in the graves.

Although he could not understand why the United States had attacked an innocent farming village, he refused to curse the Americans. "I'm not aware of our crime and why we were bombed. There were no Taliban here," he said.

"If the aircraft did not know who we were they should have checked before they bombed and killed innocent civilians. "I don't know about politics. But I'm angry, and I leave it up to God."

The village was littered with the debris of village life, including children's clothes, women's sandals, and the rotting carcasses of dead sheep. Villagers said another three or four people were killed when bombs struck a small community of nomads who had pitched their tents nearby. [M M]