From Europe News:
Eleven Dead in Riot Outside German Camp in Afghanistan
Spiegel Online 19 May 2011
By Matthias Gebauer, Shoib Najafizada and Hasnain Kazim
An operation by US special forces prompted a violent demonstration outside a Bundeswehr camp in Afghanistan on Wednesday. Eleven people were shot and at least 80 injured. Afghan authorities blame the Taliban for escalating the protests.
A nighttime operation by United States forces in northern Afghanistan triggered violent protests on Wednesday in front of a German military camp in the city of Taloqan in Takhar province. A funeral march for four people who had been killed by US troops ended in violence at the gates to the camp, which was attacked with hand grenades and incendiary objects.
Local authorities are stating that 11 people died in the altercation between the protesters, Afghan security forces and the German military, the Bundeswehr. In addition, more than 80 people were injured. The sheer number of victims means that it is one of the bloodiest incidents to happen in Afghanistan this year. It is also expected to draw attention again to the precarious security situation in the region where the Bundeswehr has deployed.
A spokesperson for the Bundeswehr later reported in Berlin that at least two German soldiers and four Afghan guards had been injured in the incident. The German and Afghan soldiers had fired their weapons to defend themselves, the spokesperson said, adding that investigators were still seeking to determine whether Bundeswehr soldiers had been responsible for protesters' deaths. Sources at the main German army base in Kunduz, however, told SPIEGEL ONLINE that German soldiers hadn't fired directly on protesters.
Officials said the Bundeswehr is moving as quickly as it can to investigate the circumstances of the attack, the victims and the reaction by soldiers at the base. Leading German officers in Afghanistan spoke of a "dramatic incident" and a "new quality of violence." (...)
Posted May 19th, 2011 by pk
Eleven Dead in Riot Outside German Camp in Afghanistan
Spiegel Online 19 May 2011
By Matthias Gebauer, Shoib Najafizada and Hasnain Kazim
An operation by US special forces prompted a violent demonstration outside a Bundeswehr camp in Afghanistan on Wednesday. Eleven people were shot and at least 80 injured. Afghan authorities blame the Taliban for escalating the protests.
A nighttime operation by United States forces in northern Afghanistan triggered violent protests on Wednesday in front of a German military camp in the city of Taloqan in Takhar province. A funeral march for four people who had been killed by US troops ended in violence at the gates to the camp, which was attacked with hand grenades and incendiary objects.
Local authorities are stating that 11 people died in the altercation between the protesters, Afghan security forces and the German military, the Bundeswehr. In addition, more than 80 people were injured. The sheer number of victims means that it is one of the bloodiest incidents to happen in Afghanistan this year. It is also expected to draw attention again to the precarious security situation in the region where the Bundeswehr has deployed.
A spokesperson for the Bundeswehr later reported in Berlin that at least two German soldiers and four Afghan guards had been injured in the incident. The German and Afghan soldiers had fired their weapons to defend themselves, the spokesperson said, adding that investigators were still seeking to determine whether Bundeswehr soldiers had been responsible for protesters' deaths. Sources at the main German army base in Kunduz, however, told SPIEGEL ONLINE that German soldiers hadn't fired directly on protesters.
Officials said the Bundeswehr is moving as quickly as it can to investigate the circumstances of the attack, the victims and the reaction by soldiers at the base. Leading German officers in Afghanistan spoke of a "dramatic incident" and a "new quality of violence." (...)
Posted May 19th, 2011 by pk
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