Topic: Afghan dies in shooting involving Canadian convoy

[GAP]

Afghan dies in shooting involving Canadian convoy
Updated Fri. Nov. 16 2007 1:04 PM ET CTV.ca News Staff
 Article Link

An investigation is underway after an Afghan man died, and another was injured in a shooting involving a Canadian convoy just outside Kandahar city on Thursday.

Military officials said a taxi had approached an International Security Assistance Force convoy and ignored visual warnings to stop.

Warning shots were fired and troops then carried on with their patrol, ISAF said in a written statement.

The two Afghan men in the taxi were seriously injured and treated at a hospital where one later died.

The other man was transferred to a medical unit at Kandahar Air Field where he underwent medical treatment. He is expected to be discharged shortly.

"We deeply regret the loss of innocent civilian lives and a full investigation is being carried out," said Wing Commander Antony McCord, an ISAF spokesman for Regional Command South.

"ISAF reserves the right to self defence, but every effort is made to avoid risk to civilian life while also dealing with the potential insurgent threat posed by vehicle born suicide bombers. Afghan citizens are urged to comply with the warning signs in order to prevent these incidents."
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[jmackenzie_15]

quick observation .. .

when I was in theatre, warning shots were not fired directly AT people.
So how did they manage to wound one guy and kill another with warning shots..

[JBoyd]

quick observation .. .

when I was in theatre, warning shots were not fired directly AT people.
So how did they manage to wound one guy and kill another with warning shots..

Perhaps the taxi did not respond to the warning shots and did not stop, so they opened fire on the vehicle under the assumption it could have been an insurgent suicide bomber?

[jmackenzie_15]

You'd figure that;
im just commenting on what it says in the article which is pretty vague...
I hate it when the media does this and doesnt take the time to explain what happened - fuel for all those morons that go on about how we're killing so many innocent people.

"Canadian troops shot and kill taxi driver!"
 yeah well there was a cab and they shot at it and some guy died... who cares, read the headline, thats all that matters."

Secondly, either the guy deserved it ( everybody we ever fired at in those situations ****ed off immediately; it usually didnt even get that far. The Afghans were very cautious 99% of the time), the troops that fired on the cab hit them by accident or on purpose, or three the guy just wasnt heading any warnings.

[JBoyd]

I agree with the article being very vague, you can be sure that the anti-military activists will most definatly try to play this off as brutality and a senseless shooting...

[milnews.ca]

It appears the report is vague because the statement issued by ISAF is vague:

Investigation launched after shooting incident in Kandahar

KABUL, Afghanistan – An official investigation has been launched after two Afghan men were seriously injured when the taxi they were travelling in was shot at by ISAF troops in Kandahar yesterday.  One of the men who was injured later died of his wounds.
The taxi had approached an ISAF patrol convoy, and had ignored visual signs to stop.  Warning shots were fired and the ISAF troops then carried on with their patrol. The occupants of the taxi were subsequently treated at a hospital where one later died of gun shot wounds.  The other injured occupant was transferred to the Multinational Medical Unit at Kandahar airfield where he underwent medical treatment, and is expected to be discharged shortly.

"We deeply regret the loss of innocent civilian lives and a full investigation is being carried out”, said Wing Commander Antony McCord, an ISAF spokesman for Regional Command South.  “ISAF reserves the right to self defence, but every effort is made to avoid risk to civilian life while also dealing with the potential insurgent threat posed by vehicle born suicide bombers.  Afghan citizens are urged to comply with the warning signs in order to prevent these incidents.”

The only "digging" that appears to have been done is to get confirmation that it was CAN troops involved.  These sorts of things tend to be broad-stroke at the first go until an investigation is complete, at which point they can go into more detail re:  what happened.

[KevinB]

Non issue -- either the troops followed the ROE (my guess) or they did not.  Innocent people get shot when they dont follow coalition warnings, it may suck -- but thats life.

IF the troops are in the wrong the NIS will (months, maybe years later) recommend charges.

Business as usual, nothign to see here folks.

[GAP]

What the Globe & Mail didn't tell you, again
Monday, November 19, 2007
 Article Link

Paul Koring wrote what I thought was a mostly fair article the other day, about escalation of force incidents:

Facing ever-present and deadly threats from suicide bombers, Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan open fire almost weekly at Afghans getting too close to convoys or approaching checkpoints at high speed, according to the most complete public accounting to date of such incidents.

The exhaustively compiled summary shows at least nine Afghans have been killed and 22 injured in more than two dozen shootings when Canadian soldiers fired on approaching individuals or vehicles since Canadian troops deployed to the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar province in the spring of last year.

Every so-called "escalation of force incident" is investigated by the Canadian Forces National Investigation Service, an independent military police unit with a mandate to investigate serious and sensitive matters.

All Canadian soldiers involved in the 61 completed investigations have been cleared. Three shootings, including the killing last month of a motorcyclist and the wounding of his 12-year-old brother, remain under investigation. Another 11 completed investigations determined that Canadian soldiers weren't involved.

I say the piece was "mostly fair," because while Koring made an effort to show the difficult position Canadian soldiers find themselves in when guarding the lives of their mates through the streets of Kandahar City - I have the utmost respect for anyone who has ever ridden as air-sentry on a LAV in Southern Afghanistan - he paid only lip-service to the unglamourous preparation done by staff officers ahead of time to make sure the decisions faced by our soldiers are easier than they otherwise would be:

Most drivers in Afghanistan now know of the devastating consequences of disregarding such warnings and failing to pull over or stay well back from a military convoy.

One short sentence doesn't cover it, frankly.

ISAF, and specifically the CF, have made a significant effort to educate Afghans about how to interact with military convoys in Kandahar. To start with, there are signs on just about every vehicle sent outside the wire. They're about three feet long, and they're reflective.
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[Grimaldus]

RIP