100 Taliban, Perhaps Including Leader Dadullah, Killed In Airstrike
By Pat Dollard on general
Rather then just provide a link to a single story I'm going to break this down differently. The U.S. hit over a 100 Taliban who had gathered to execute "several" men they described as spies. In the group were two of the Taliban top leaders, including their supreme military commander, Mansoor Dadullah, the little brother of the infamous Mullah Dadullah. Dadullah recently issued the videotape of the "graduating class of terrorists" supposedly dispatched to the U.S. and Europe. It is not yet known if he was killed.
The New York Times, instead of running the actual story of an airstrike intended to decapitate the head of the Taliban, and which killed over 100 terrorists, instead simply ran the blaring headline: "U.S. Airstrike on 2 Taliban Commanders in South Wounds at Least 18 Civilians, Afghans Say". Hmm. Now the New York Times shouldn' pretend to be naive rookies who are oblivious to the fact that the Taliban are known to both prompt and commit false civilian casualty reports. It's fine enough to put the fact that civilan casualties were reported by "locals" into the story, but not to make it the headline. Especially when the raid killed so many Taliban and may have killed their very famous leader. Just how is a suspicious report of 18 civilian casualties the more consequential and important story? It's not - the New York Times are enemy propagandists. And let me also mention that they have a responsibilty to admit that it has often been reported that civilian casualty counts are fabricated by the Taliban.
The BBC did the same thing. Here's their headline and opening sentence of the story: Afghans 'wounded in air strike'
"About 50 Afghan civilians have been wounded in an air strike by US-led forces on a group of Taleban leaders holding a meeting in Helmand province."
On the other hand, note how the London Telegraph handled it:
One military source, who did not wish to be named denied allegations of civilian casualties.
"We are 100 per cent clear that this was entirely Taliban. Those in hospital are fighting age males. This is the Taliban trying to cover the fact that they got caught out."
A statement put out by the US-led coalition in Afghanistan last night said that it had targeted two "notorious Taliban commanders": "During a sizable meeting of senior Taliban commanders, coalition forces employed precision-guided munitions on their location after ensuring there were no innocent Afghans in the surrounding area."
From ChinaView.cn:
About 100 Taliban rebels including five senior commanders were killed during an air strike in southern Afghanistan, Defense Ministry spokesman Zahir Azimi told reporters Saturday.
Foreign troops carried out an air strike in remote Baghran district of Helmand province on Thursday when many Taliban militants were gathering to watch the execution of several persons accused of cooperating with the government, Azimi said.
About 100 insurgents were killed in the bombardment, he said, adding five senior Taliban commanders including Mullah Rahim, top Taliban commander in Helmand, were among the killed.
Azimi said Mansor Dadullah, top Taliban military commander, was found at the site before the bombing, and Afghan troops were still confirming whether he was killed.
Referring to the incident, the U.S.-led coalition forces said, "During a sizable meeting of senior Taliban commanders, coalition forces employed precision guided munitions on their location after ensuring there were no innocent Afghans in the surrounding area.
More from the Telegraph:
"Nato is reported to have killed at least two senior Taliban leaders in an airstrike north of Helmand as they were watching a public execution.
The bombing took place in the northern district of Baghran on Thursday, a district entirely controlled by the Taliban.
The Taliban's commander for southern Afghanistan, Mansoor Dadullah, was among those targeted, according to unconfirmed reports.
The Afghan Defence Ministry said that the airstrike took place as Taliban leaders gathered to watch the public hanging of several alleged government spies.
Dadullah replaced his older brother Mullah Dadullah Akhund after he was killed by the Special Boat Service (SBS) in Helmand on May 17th.
The younger Dadullah was interviewed by Channel 4 last week promising a wave of kidnaps of foreigners in the province. He threatened to have them beheaded by child executioners.
The Afghan defence ministry claimed that intelligence reports indicated the presence of Mansoor Dadullah at the targeted meeting. The senior Taliban commander for Helmand, Mullah Rahim, was also reported killed. patdollard.com |
