UNFree Media: Afghanistan

Jalalabad, Afghanistan

It was late Friday afternoon when we heard that a nighttime US Special Forces raid had allegedly killed civilians in a village about nine miles west of Jalalabad, our reporting base in eastern Afghanistan's Nangarhar province. Our local fixer had waited to pass the news; he feared that we'd insist on going straight to the scene where a brick-throwing mob might have attacked us once they learned we were American journalists. He was right.

Wire reports based on witness accounts were saying that at least ten civilians were killed: nine in the raid, and one shot dead by police when protesters tried to break into the district headquarters. The US military maintained the operation had targeted Taliban militants, including a sub-commander by the name of Qari Shamshudin who was killed. It said no civilians were harmed.