Afghans protest deadly air strike on boys
Hundreds of people poured on the streets of Afghanistan's capital on Sunday to protest at the deaths of nine children killed in a NATO air raid on a remote rebel stronghold. The protesters chanted "death to America, death to the invaders" while marching through central Kabul. The protest follows similar demonstrations in the north-east province of Kunar following the deaths on Tuesday of the nine children who were killed while collecting firewood. President Hamid Karzai angrily condemned the killings and US president Barack Obama and General David Petraeus, the commander of the US-led troops in Afghanistan, apologised for the incident.
"We don't want the invading forces," [chanted one demonstrator carrying posters of the dead children. Another shouted:] "Death to the government of president Hamid Karzai." [Two of Nasim's sons were among the nine boys who went into the hills to collect firewood last week but never returned.] "The Americans are wild," [said the boys' father, who uses only one name and whose sons were aged 11 and 12, crying as he spoke.] "They don't value humanity and don't care about our children. "The men who carried out the air strike and the ones who ordered it should be brought to court."