Western troops accused of executing 10 Afghan civilians, including children

It just doesn't end:

American-led troops were accused yesterday of dragging innocent children from their beds and shooting them during a night raid that left ten people dead.

Afghan government investigators said that eight schoolchildren were killed, all but one of them from the same family. Locals said that some victims were handcuffed before being killed.

Western military sources said that the dead were all part of an Afghan terrorist cell responsible for manufacturing improvised explosive devices (IEDs), which have claimed the lives of countless soldiers and civilians.

“This was a joint operation that was conducted against an IED cell that Afghan and US officials had been developing information against for some time,” said a senior Nato insider. But he admitted that “the facts about what actually went down are in dispute”.

From the Times of London (UK); h/t No A, B, C, or D. Gotta love that bit of hedging about the facts being in dispute.

Note too that while the troops are described as "American-led", it doesn't say who else was represented among the alleged butchers. Were Canadians involved? I have no idea; I hope not. But in any case does anyone still think we have any business whatsoever participating in this "mission"?