…for its intial coverage of a story about the death of two children in southern Afghanistan.
A NATO statement said this:
“Elders from a village located approximately 15 km west of Kandahar City alleged today that two local children were killed and two were wounded when unexploded ordnance they were handling detonated. It is alleged that the unexploded ordnance was left behind by ISAF soldiers who were conducting a practice range exercise in the area the day prior, however the nature of the munition involved has yet to be determined…..”
CBC and other mainstream media outlets reported the Canadian Forces National Investigative Service is looking into the incident.
However, from all indications based on a single source at the protest site, here’s CNN’s initial story:
“Villagers in southern Afghanistan stacked the bodies of two dead children in front of a provincial council Monday to protest their deaths in a rocket attack.
The villagers blamed Canadian rockets for killing the children and injuring five men, but their claims could not immediately be verified.
Canadian authorities are investigating, said Maj. Wance White, spokesman for the Canadian Kandahar Provincial Reconstruction Team, which assists the Afghan government and its citizens.
Haji Baaz Mohd, a resident of the Salihan Panjwahi village, led the protest against international troops and the Afghan government.
Mohd went in front of the Kandahar Provincial Council and the governor’s office, shouting in protest against NATO and the Afghan government.
“We want Mullah Omar, we want a Taliban government,” he shouted.
Omar is the Taliban’s reclusive leader.”
Here’s a .pdf scan of the original story to compare to subsequent versions, which I’ll be happy to share when I see them – CNN’s been e-mailed the links listed above to give the rest of the story.
It’ll also be interesting to see how the Taliban’s media machine messages this one. Some more cynical than myself might say the story’s already written for them, but we’ll see.
24 Feb 09 Update: Now, there seems to be a wider range of narratives out there:
“…. Some media sources reported the children were killed when a missile hit a house in the Panjwai village. Five other people were injured. However Canadian media reported that the children may have died when an unexploded bomb detonated as they searched for scrap metal in the Panjwai valley. A local police chief said the deaths may have been caused by a Taliban attack ….”
Still nothing from the Taliban in English on the usual suspect forums…
MILNEWS.ca Blog 