Granai airstrike | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Part of the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) | |||||
| |||||
Casualties and losses | |||||
Estimate: 86–147 killed, mostly women and children | |||||
Location within Afghanistan |
The Granai airstrike, sometimes called the Granai massacre, refers to the killing of approximately 86 to 147 Afghan civilians by an airstrike by a US Air Force B-1 Bomber on May 4, 2009, in the village of Granai (Pashto: گرانای, also Romanized Garani, Gerani, Granay)[1] in Farah Province, south of Herat, Afghanistan.[2][3][4][5][6]
The United States admitted significant errors were made in carrying out the airstrike, stating "the inability to discern the presence of civilians and avoid and/or minimize accompanying collateral damage resulted in the unintended consequence of civilian casualties".[7][8][9]
The Afghan government said that around 140 civilians were killed, of whom 22 were adult men and 93 were children.[3][4] Afghanistan's top rights body has said 97 civilians were killed, most of them children.[3] Other estimates range from 86 to 147 civilians killed.[7][10] An earlier probe by the US military had said that 20–30 civilians were killed along with 60–65 insurgents.[3] A partially released American inquiry stated "no one will ever be able conclusively to determine the number of civilian casualties that occurred".[7] The Australian had said that the airstrike resulted in "one of the highest civilian death tolls from Western military action since foreign forces invaded Afghanistan in 2001".[11]
© MMXXIII Rich X Search. We shall prevail. All rights reserved. Rich X Search