(22 May 2006) SHOTLIST
1. Ambulance carrying injured civilians to Kandahar hospital
2. Various, medical personnel carrying the injured out of ambulance
3. Various, injured people being taken into hospital, and being treated
4. SOUNDBITE: (Pashtu) Abrahim Jan, wounded man:
"The Taliban were walking around the village..the fighter plane started bombing, then we did not see any Taliban in the area."
5. Doctors tending to an injured person
6. Relatives of the injured in front of hospital
7. SOUNDBITE: (Pashtu) Hajji Hamidullah, victim's relative:
"There were 24 victims among them; 2 men were killed and one woman, the rest were all children."
8. Men carrying more injured from the ambulance to hospital.
9. Ambulance leaving
STORYLINE:
A US led coalition aircraft killed up to 80 suspected Taliban militants and 16 civilians in a night air-strike on a rebel stronghold in southern Afghanistan, an Afghan governor said Monday.
A coalition statement said it had confirmed 20 Taliban killed in the attack on the village of Azizi in Kandahar province late Sunday and early Monday, while there were "an unconfirmed 60 additional Taliban casualties."
Injured civilians were taken to Mirwaise hospital, Kandahar once daylight broke on Monday.
The US led coalition confirmed the strike on the village of Azizi in Kandahar province over Sunday night and early Monday morning, saying about 50 militants were killed.
US commander Lt. Gen. Karl W. Eikenberry told the Associated Press that the military was investigating civilian deaths.
One man injured in the bombing confirmed the attack.
"The Taliban were walking around the village, the fighter plane started bombing, then we did not see any Taliban in the area."
Speaking from Mirwaise Hospital, in Kandahar a relative of one of the victims, Hajji Hamidullah, claimed children were among those killed.
"There were 24 victims among them; 2 men were killed and one woman, the rest were all children," Hamidullah said.
The air raid comes as a storm of violence broke out on Wednesday in the south, drawing some of deadliest combat in Afghanistan since the ouster of the Taliban regime in 2001.
Police and foreign troops have blocked off Azizi (also known as Hajiyan village) which is about 50 kilometres (30 miles) southwest of Kandahar.
According to figures from coalition and Afghan officials, the new deaths brought the toll of militants, Afghan forces and coalition soldiers and civilians killed to more than 265 since Wednesday's fighting.

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