Taliban use children as human shields

CNN:

Seven children were killed in an airstrike by the U.S.-led coalition on a compound in eastern Afghanistan where al Qaeda fighters were believed to be gathered on Sunday, according to a U.S. military statement.

Several militants were also killed and two were detained, according to the military.

A U.S. military spokesman said there was no sign of children around the targeted building before the airstrike was ordered.

"We had surveillance on the compound all day and saw no indications there were children inside the building," said Army Maj. Chris Belcher, spokesman for the Coalition.

The military said other children who survived said that they were forced to stay inside the building throughout the day.

"Credible intelligence named the compound, which contained a mosque and a madrassa, as a suspected safehouse for al Qaeda fighters," the statement said. "Coalition forces confirmed the presence of nefarious activity occurring at the site before getting approval to conduct an airstrike on the location."

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CNN does a terrible job of reporting this story beginning with the headline which only mentions that the US killed kids omitting the most relevant fact that they were placed in harms way by the Taliban as human shields in violation of the Geneva Conventions and the rules of war. It is another example of the media giving the enemy a pass on war crimes and structuring their story to make our forces look bad. This type of coverage follows the enemy template for events and is a disgrace to journalism.