ASAD ABAD, Afghanistan -- Operation Rock Avalanche suffered a setback day here in the high peaks of southeastern Afghanistan.
Soldiers of the 173rd Airborne Brigade had begun a major fall offensive in the Pech River Valley to halt activity of anti-collation militias before the onset of the winter months.
Their strategy began with an air assault on the mountaintops, then soldiers were to patrol down through the smaller valleys to either kill or capture all insurgents.
"We've had to stand down for 24 hours before our company begins its assault to search and attack insurgents in the Shuryak Valley," said Capt. Louis Frketic, A Company's commander. "Apparently, two local kids were wounded during the assault on the night of Oct. 19, and extra time was needed to sort things out with the families. Perhaps a shura' will be called with the village elders to determine where lies the responsibility regarding the casualties."
Upon further investigation, it turned out that the wounded, along with some of their relatives, were at the native medical clinic at Camp Wright in Asad Abad.
After speaking through an interpreter with Mohammud Ishag, a friend of a wounded woman's family, a vastly different story surfaced about these people from the small village of Yakha China.
Ishag said there were no Al-Qaeda, Taliban or other insurgents in this area. He said that five villagers were killed and 10 wounded in an attack led by American troops.
The children waiting in the clinic were either slightly wounded, related to one of the three patients in the emergency beds or relatives of the dead.
They were in the care of Ishag and Hazrat Shaw, a brother-in-law of one of the wounded women.
"There were loud roars from the American helicopters that were descending over our village," said Ishag. "They fired into some of the houses. These children, their mother who is in that bed there and other members of the family began to flee to another house. The husband was not home.
"When they used a flashlight to see the way, more gunfire erupted, and many people were injured. The bodies of the dead were taken to their homes; the wounded were brought here to this clinic."
Apparently, the troopers of operation Rock Avalanche, some of whom are Afghan Police and Afghan Army troops, fired on the light, thinking it was being used by insurgents on the run.
Nothing official was released by the U.S. military, either regarding American casualties or their responsibility toward the civilian injured and dead. An Associated Press story said the Afghan Defense Ministry reported one death and 10 wounded among the civilians.
Thirty insurgents were also reported killed in this engagement.
Sgt. Corina Rudolph, a U.S. Army medic from the military hospital in Asad Abad, did confirm that three of the more seriously injured civilians were taken to the new hospital at Bagram Airfield, which has medical specialists. At this point, Operation Rock Avalanche is continuing with its original plan of action.
Major air assaults by elements of U.S. and Afghan infantry, mortar teams and machine gunners were to resume after the 24-hour hold in the high peaks of the Pech River District.
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Conroy reports from Afghanistan
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