Taliban killing civilians while US forces bomb enemy

AP:

Hundreds of US-led troops have launched an offensive against al Qaida and Taliban militants in eastern Afghanistan, while a bomb attack near the capital killed three German nationals, officials said.

The offensive involving ground troops and airstrikes in the Tora Bora region of eastern Nangarhar province is targeting "hundreds of foreign fighters" who are using dug-in fighting positions, said coalition spokeswoman Capt Vanessa Bowman.

The remote mountainous area bordering Pakistan was heavily bombarded in late 2001 by US troops hunting Osama bin Laden and his associates following the September 11 attacks in America. Bin Laden is believed to have escaped that assault.

"This region has provided an ideal environment to conceal enemy support bases and training sites, as well as plan and launch attacks aimed at terrorising innocent civilians, both inside and outside the region," Bowman said in a statement released by the Pentagon.

There were no immediate reports of casualties among militants or US and Afghan troops.

...

Germany's Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said the three Germans were police officers deployed to Afghanistan to protect the German Embassy. In a statement, he characterised the explosion as an "underhanded attack."

The officers were apparently on their way to a training session. Schaeuble said they were travelling in a "particularly well-protected vehicle."

Obama should be ashamed. He got it just backwards on attacks against civilians. Of course the AP should be ashamed too for not recognizing the enemy's victim strategy in its bogus claims of civilian casualties as a result of our bombing their positions.