Wikileak Locates Harrowing Video of Americans Killing Afghan Civilians

The incidents reflected chronic insecurity in the province of Kandahar, where US-led military forces are preparing a major push to dislodge the Taliban from their spiritual capital.

An injured child lies in a hospital bed in the western town of Farah on 6 May. Afghans chanted "Death to America" and demanded US troops leave Afghanistan as mobs threw stones at government offices Thursday in a violent protest against civilian deaths, witnesses said. (AFP)

(WASHINGTON D.C. ) - The whisteblower website WikiLeaks exploded onto the national stage earlier this month after releasing a video that showed members of a US Apache helicopter crew gunning two reporters and six others to death. Now they say they plan to release another, even more harrowing clip.

The clip will show previously classified footage of US warplanes that had been tapped to bomb Taliban positions in Farah province, Afghanistan last year.

The UK Telegraph wrote: "The Afghan government said at the time that the strikes by F-18 and B1 planes near Granai killed 147 civilians. An independent Afghan inquiry later put the toll at 86."^[1]

"Video footage of the strike could prove highly damaging to the Nato-led coalition if it showed pilots failing to safeguard civilian lives," the paper continues.

The video uncovered by Wikileaks last week, shows an American helicopter gunship crew eliminating two Iraqi journalists along with several other civilians, and then attacking a van with two children sitting in the passenger seat that pulled up to help the injured^[2].

In his article, WikiLeaks plans to post video showing US massacre of Afghani civilians, John Byrne cited how as recently as today, "Afghans protested the deaths of four other civilians who were killed when US forces fired on a bus on Monday."^[3]

"About 200 men took to the streets of Kandahar to demonstrate over the killings on a highway outside the southern Afghan city, burning tires and shouting "death to America, death to Karzai, death to this government".

"Hours later, three Taliban militants wearing suicide vests and carrying guns tried to storm the office of Afghanistan's premier spy agency in Kandahar, sparking a shoot-out with security forces.

"The incidents reflected chronic insecurity in the province of Kandahar, where US-led military forces are preparing a major push to dislodge the Taliban from their spiritual capital."

It was confirmed by the Afghan government that a woman and a child were among those killed, and 18 more were injured in the attack. It reportedly happened as a bus neared a NATO convoy on the road between Kandahar and Herat.

Here is Russian TV English discussing the video from last week. We will publish the new clip from Afghanistan as soon as Wikileaks makes it available.

Special thanks to RAW STORY and RTV and uruknet.info:

^[1] 11 April 2010: Wikileaks 'to release video of US strike on Afghan civilians' Ben Farmer Telegraph UK

^[2] 12 April 2010: WikiLeaks plans to post video showing US massacre of Afghani civilians - John Byrne

^[3] 5 April 2010: Group Forces Release of Video Showing Bloody Collateral Attack on Reuter's Crew in Iraq - Tim King Salem-News.com