The Telegraph, December 12, 2007

Claims of atrocity in Helmand province

One man claimed to have witnessed his brother having his throat slashed as he protested that he was a shopkeeper and not with the Taliban.

By Tom Coghlan in Kabul

The British Army says it is "taking seriously" claims that children were shot and several adult villagers had their throats cut during a secret military operation by unidentified forces in Helmand province.

The alleged Nov 18 mission in the village of Toube reportedly involved Afghans and unspecified foreign soldiers.

A small boy injured by US/NATO bombs during the night of August 25/26, 2007 in Musa Qala (by Abdul Khaleq/ AP)

Photo Gallery of US victims in Afghanistan ( http://www.rawa.org/s-photos.htm )
The Afghan Victim Memorial Project by Prof. Marc ( http://pubpages.unh.edu/~mwherold/memorial.htm )

One man claimed to have witnessed his brother having his throat slashed as he protested that he was a shopkeeper and not with the Taliban.

Others alleged that two children were shot as they slept.

Col Richard Eaton, the spokesman for the British military in Helmand, said: "These are very serious allegations and we have no sense of whether they are true or not.

"There is something that took place at approximately that time and it did cause some casualties. The initial assessment was that those were all Taliban."

A Nato spokesman said that he was unaware of any Nato troops being in the area on the night.

US special forces have undertaken secret missions about which Nato has no knowledge.

But in the past Nato has accused the Taliban of inventing supposed atrocities by Western forces.

Meanwhile, medics at the British garrison of Camp Bastion were yesterday fighting to save the lives of a two-year-old Afghan boy and his sister, aged around 10, injured in a mortar attack in Helmand.

British forces earlier completed clearing pockets of Taliban resistance in Musa Qala after a major operation to seize back the only town under enemy control.

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