see page 115

FRCS sources

2002-2009
___________

5 Dec 2003

EDO MBM Electrical Connector
US and Israeli Patents applied for.

_______________

EDO MBM Technology Ltd in association with W L Gore & Associates and Deutsch Ltd have successfully launched the next generation MIL-STD-1760 ‘smart’ weapon snatch connector harness incorporating the EDO MBM Field Replaceable Connector System (FRCS). Unlike current MIL-DTL-38999/31 snatch connectors, FRCS provides an efficient, ‘jam free’ electrical interface on weapon disconnect with predictable and consistent separation forces.

FRCS was originally developed in response to the degraded operational capability resulting from high separation loads and harness damage universally experienced during ‘1760’ store releases. EDO MBM sought an alternative method to prevent the electrical connector from jamming. The FRCS solution was first embodied during the recent UK UOR integration of Enhanced Paveway II onto the Harrier GR7 and is currently being adopted on Tornado. FRCS roll change harnesses are now in full production and certified on several NATO fighter platforms.

End users will benefit considerably from the FRCS harness. In addition to being fully field replaceable/ repairable, the connector is self-aligning (preventing contact damage) and eases blind / recessed connector mating. The new design does not require any modification to the mating weapon connector or aircraft. FRCS can also be retro-fitted to existing harnesses.

____


EDO Smart Weapon Connector System Selected by Royal Netherlands Air Force for F-16.

Business Wire | November 20, 2005 | COPYRIGHT 2005 Business Wire.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- EDO MBM Technology Ltd, a U.K. business unit of EDO Corporation (NYSE: EDO), has received a contract from the Royal Netherlands Air Force for F-16 pylon umbilicals equipped with its Field Replaceable Connector System (FRCS). This is the first F-16 FRCS contract and marks a significant revenue opportunity for EDO as operators worldwide adopt the new certified standard.

EDO MBM originally developed the FRCS in response to the degraded operational capability resulting from high separation loads and subsequent harness and pylon damage being ...

---

EDO unit signs contract with Netherlands Air Force

Long Island Business News, Nov 21, 2005 by Ken Schachter
 http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4189/is_20051121/ai_n15848564/?tag=content;col1

A unit of EDO Corp. (NYSE: EDO) has signed a contract with the Royal Netherlands Air Force for pylon umbilical connector systems used in the release of smart bombs on F-16 jets, the company said.Details of the contract with U.K.-based EDO MBM Technology were not disclosed.The company's stock was up 16 cents to $26.74 in mid- afternoon trading.EDO's Long Island operations include facilities in Bohemia and North Amityville.
Copyright 2005 Dolan Media Newswires
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserve
-----


EDO MBM Technology Ltd, a business unit of EDO Corporation, has achieved flight certification for F-16 pylon umbilicals equipped with its Field Replaceable Connector System (FRCS).

June 13, 2005 (by Lieven Dewitte) -

EDO MBM developed the FRCS in response to the degraded operational capability resulting from high separation loads and subsequent harness (& pylon) damage being universally experienced during "smart" Mil-Std-1760 weapon release. FRCS prevents connector jamming, ensures low and consistent separation loads, and is fully field replaceable/repairable.

FRCS-equipped umbilicals were first used during the UK "Urgent Operational Requirement" integration of Enhanced Paveway II onto Harrier GR7 and are now under full production for RAF Tornado GR4 and Harrier GR9.

EDO MBM developed the F-16 application with improved routing of the umbilical through the pylon to further assist weapon loading. Umbilicals are now certified for 100 eject releases, an order of magnitude improvement that more than justifies the cost of embodiment. The capability is now being offered to F-16 operators worldwide.

Certification is in progress for several other NATO fighter platforms.
_____


DATE:02/05/06

SOURCE:Flight International

 http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2006/05/02/206294/pentagon-adds-foreign-equipment-to-comparative-test.html

Pentagon adds foreign equipment to comparative test programme

...

Other projects include evaluation of a “smart bomb” umbilical connector for the 1760 weapon databus developed by the UK’s EDO MBM Technology;...
________

ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR
US Patent Granted 29 August 2006

 http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=7097490.PN.&OS=PN/7097490&RS=PN/7097490

__________________

According to US Govt records on 14 May 2008 EDO MBM were awarded a manufacturing contract by the United States Air Force for 2,638 Electrical Connectors for the American A-10 Thunderbolt II military jet used for 'close air support' operations in Iraq.

The contract (file ref. FA8221-08-R-73182) was worth $183,713 and was marked

“Priority: C. THIS IS AN EXTREMELY URGENT REQUIREMENT CONCERNING PUBLIC EXIGENCY.”

All items were required on or before 30 June 2008

Solicitation Notice

 http://216.239.59.104/search?q=cache:tctCZxNruyQJ:www.fbodaily.com/archive/2008/03-March/12-Mar-2008/FBO-01528280.htm+SCD-M11579&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&lr=lang_en

Award Notice

 https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=0a3d78ef79c64a80d119f316c8ad8b19&tab=core&_cview=1

--------------------

25 August 2008
ITT recieves full field recommendation for its Field Replaceable Connector System

 http://www.defense.itt.com/media/news_2008-08-25.pdf
_________

ITT’s Field Replaceable Connector System achieves "No-Jam" success
at Exercise Red Flag
 http://es.is.itt.com/pr2008/pr08_0902.htm

BRIGHTON, U.K. – September 2, 2008 – ITT Corporation (NYSE:ITT) today announced its Field Replaceable Connector System (FRCS) has achieved clean electrical weapon separation during the U.S. Air Force (USAF) Exercise Red Flag. Exercise Red Flag provides highly realistic combat training, including the release of live smart ordnance, in a combined air, ground and electronic threat environment.
The FRCS is a jam-resistant weapons interface connector for installation on F-16 MLU Fighting Falcons from the Netherlands, Denmark and Norway. Its new ‘push to fit’ design replaces the traditional screw-on connectors that have often jammed at separation causing physical damage and posing risk to mission, aircraft and weapon.
ITT’s FRCS recently completed successful field testing through USAF Foreign Comparative Testing and a full-fielding recommendation for use on F-16 MIL-STD-1760 weapons. FRCS pylon umbilical assemblies are in service on Tornado IDS, Harrier GR7/9, Typhoon, A-10C Thunderbolt and currently undergoing certification for F-15E Strike Eagle, Gripen, AV-8B, F/A-18 Hornet and several smart multiple store carriage systems.
ITT Integrated Structures serves three primary markets: aircraft-armament suspension and release equipment, electronic weapons interface systems, and advanced composite structures and subsystems for both military and commercial customers.

EDO MBM 'FRCS' and the USAF/NATO A-10 Thunderbolt II Warthog

1. Patents

UK Patent


A serviceable quick release electrical connector for use in aircraft
stores / munitions

Patent number: GB2382733A
Publication date: 2003-06-04
Inventor: EATON JOHN (GB); CRUTTENDEN MICHAEL JAMES (GB)
Applicant: MBM TECHNOLOGY LTD (GB)
Classification:
- international: (IPC1-7) H01R13/627
Application number: GB20020029347 20021217
Priority number(s): GB20020029347 20021217

Source:
 http://www.ipo.gov.uk/search.htm?words=john+eaton+electrical+connector

***

US Patent

Patent number: 7097490
Filing date: Dec 11, 2003
Issue date: Aug 29, 2006
Application number: 10/733,458

source:
 http://www.google.com/patents/about?id=iVB6AAAAEBAJ&dq=john+eaton+edo+mbm

***

Israel patent

Patent Application No: 159162
ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR
Publication date of application acceptance: 20/07/2009
IPC classification: H01R 13/627
Applicants: EDO MBM TECHNOLOGY LIMITED


Application date: 02/12/2003
Patent application Status:
Patent
Current status: Patent granted
Priority Data:
17/12/2002 0229347.0 GB

find Israeli patent here:
source:  http://www.ilpatsearch.justice.gov.il/UI/AdvancedSearch.aspx
enter
applicant name: EDO MBM
inventor name: John Eaton

***
2.
EDO MBM and ITT Corporation promotional publications on FRCS

Current ITT website  http://www.es.is.itt.com/WeaponInterfacingMechanical.htm
Current EDO MBM website  http://www.mbmtech.co.uk/pa.html


Field Replaceable Role Change Harnesses
EDO MBM Technology Ltd in association with W L Gore & Associates and
Deutsch Ltd have successfully launched the next generation MIL-STD-1760
‘smart’ weapon snatch connector harness incorporating the EDO MBM Field
Replaceable Connector System (FRCS). Unlike current MIL-DTL-38999/31
snatch connectors, FRCS provides an efficient, ‘jam free’ electrical
interface on weapon disconnect with predictable and consistent separation
forces.

FRCS was originally developed in response to the degraded operational
capability resulting from high separation loads and harness damage
universally experienced during ‘1760’ store releases. EDO MBM sought an
alternative method to prevent the electrical connector from jamming. The
FRCS solution was first embodied during the recent UK UOR integration of
Enhanced Paveway II onto the Harrier GR7 and is currently being adopted on
Tornado. FRCS roll change harnesses are now in full production and
certified on several NATO fighter platforms.

End users will benefit considerably from the FRCS harness. In addition to
being fully field replaceable/ repairable, the connector is self-aligning
(preventing contact damage) and eases blind / recessed connector mating.
The new design does not require any modification to the mating weapon
connector or aircraft. FRCS can also be retro-fitted to existing harnesse

***

3. A-10 contract for electrical connector

According to US Govt records on 14 May 2008 EDO MBM were awarded a
manufacturing contract by the United States Air Force for 2,638 Electrical
Connectors for the American A-10 Thunderbolt II military jet.

The contract (file ref. FA8221-08-R-73182) was worth $183,713 and was marked

Priority: C. THIS IS AN EXTREMELY URGENT REQUIREMENT CONCERNING PUBLIC
EXIGENCY.”

All items were required on or before 30 June 2008

award notice
 https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=0a3d78ef79c64a80d119f316c8ad8b19&tab=core&_cview=1&cck=1&au=&ck=.'



militaristic Video of A-10 Thunderbolt II in action
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HODMUo3zbGc

***

4. A-10s involved in civilian massacres

 http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/oct/16/afghanistan-nato

By far the most comprehensive research into Afghan casualties over the
past seven years has been carried out by Marc Herold, a US professor at
the University of New Hampshire. In his latest findings, Herold estimates
that the number of civilians directly killed by the US and other Nato
forces since 2006, up to 3,273, is already higher than the toll exacted by
the devastating three-month bombardment that ousted the Taliban regime in
2001. And over the past year civilian deaths at the hands of Nato forces
have tripled, despite changes in rules of engagement.

But most telling is the political and military calculation that underlies
the Afghan civilian bloodletting. "Close air support" bomb attacks called
in by ground forces - which rose from 176 in 2005 to 2,926 in 2007 and are
now the US tactic of choice - are between four and 10 times as deadly for
Afghan civilians as ground attacks, the figures show, and air strikes now
account for 80% of those killed by the occupation forces.

*
A-10 Thunderbolt

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


The A-10 Thunderbolt II is an American single-seat, twin-engine,
straight-wing jet aircraft developed by Fairchild-Republic for the United
States Air Force to provide close air support (CAS) of ground forces by
attacking tanks, armored vehicles, and other ground targets with a limited
air interdiction capability. It is the first U.S. Air Force aircraft
designed exclusively for close air support.

*
 http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/oct/22/afghanistan-nato

The relative lethality for Afghan civilians of Nato's close air support
strikes far exceeds the lethality of the US strategic bombing of Laos and
Cambodia. The lethality of close air support air strikes to Afghan
civilians as measured by the ratio of civilians killed per 100 tonnes of
bombs dropped is:

• 2006: 125-148
• 2007: 119-153
• 2008: 29-36

In all three years, the lethality of US bombing in Afghanistan exceeded by
far that recorded in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Yugoslavia, Iraq (2003) and
Afghanistan (2001). By relying upon aerial close air support (CAS)
attacks, US/Nato forces spare their pilots and ground troops but kill lots
of innocent Afghan civilians. Air strikes are four to ten times as deadly
for Afghan civilians as are ground attacks. And just for the record,
so-called precision bombs were initially developed to save US pilots'
lives and US taxpayers' dollars, not to spare civilian lives.

*
Reports of Civilians killed  http://pubpages.unh.edu/~mwherold

What id the F-15?
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-15_Eagle

_

ITT Press Release 22 Jan 2009

ITT receives USAF contract to install Field Replaceable Connector System
on F-15E Strike Eagle

CLIFTON, N.J. – January 22, 2009 – ITT Corporation (NYSE:ITT) today
announced that it has been awarded a contract to deliver Field Replaceable
Connector System (FRCS) weapon umbilicals (flexible cable that connects
the payload to the aircraft before release) for the F-15E Strike Eagle for
delivery in February 2009. This award clears the way for long-term
embodiment of the FRCS weapon umbilical across all F-15E squadrons.

Building on the success of providing smart-weapon umbilicals for many of
the leading fighter jets including the F-16, F/A-18, A-10, B-1B, AV-8B,
Gripen, Harrier GR7/9, Tornado GR4 and Tornado IDS, and Typhoon platforms,
ITT has developed the interconnecting system solution for the F-15E Strike
Eagle. Work will be performed at ITT Electronic Systems’ Integrated
Structures facility in *Brighton, United Kingdom*. (MY EMPHASIS)

"We’re pleased to be upgrading this important mission equipment for the
F-15, and we remain committed to effectively support the services as they
perform in extremely demanding environments," said ITT Electronic Systems
President Chris Bernhardt.

ITT’s FRCS, with a push-to-fit design, provides an efficient, jam free,
electrical interface on weapon disconnect with predictable and consistent
separation force. Previous equipment frequently jammed, causing risk of
weapon damage. The FRCS weapon umbilical utilizes flexible cable from W.
L. Gore & Associates. Demonstrated through ground trials, the FRCS weapon
umbilical assembly life has been certified in more than 100 ejected
releases.

This award has further potential for other aircraft including the F-35
Joint Strike Fighter and F-22 Raptor.

ITT Electronic Systems is one of the world’s leading suppliers of
electronic warfare technology for mission success and survivability. Key
technologies include integrated EW systems for self-protection,
reconnaissance and surveillance, force protection, mine defense, naval
command/sonar applications, and submarine communication and tracking. In
addition, Electronic Systems produces aircraft armament suspension/release
equipment; electronic weapons interface systems, and advanced composite
structures and subsystems, as well as Gilfillan precision landing and air
traffic systems.

About ITT
ITT Corporation (www.itt.com) is a diversified high-technology engineering
and manufacturing company dedicated to creating more livable environments,
enabling communications and providing protection and safety. The company
plays an important role in vital markets including water and fluids
management, global defense and security, and motion and flow control. ITT
employs approximately 40,000 people serving customers in more than 50
countries. Headquartered in White Plains, N.Y., the company generated $9
billion in 2007 sales.

Contacts:


Ed Mygland
Integrated Structures Business Development
 ed.mygland@itt.com

Suanne Connolly
Integrated Structures Communications
 suanne.connolly@itt.com
. http://es.is.itt.com/pr2009/pr09_0122.htm

***

Use of USAF F-15 in airtstrikes killing civilians after February 2009


Afghans riot over air-strike atrocity

Witnesses say deaths of 147 people in three villages came after a
sustained bombardment by American aircraft. Patrick Cockburn, in Herat,
reports

Friday, 8 May 2009


Shouting "Death to America" and "Death to the Government", thousands of
Afghan villagers hurled stones at police yesterday as they vented their
fury at American air strikes that local officials claim killed 147
civilians.

The riot started when people from three villages struck by US bombers in
the early hours of Tuesday, brought 15 newly-discovered bodies in a truck
to the house of the provincial governor. As the crowd pressed forward in
Farah, police opened fire, wounding four protesters. Traders in the rest
of Farah city, the capital of the province of the same name where the
bombing took place, closed their shops, vowing they would not reopen them
until there is an investigation.

A local official Abdul Basir Khan said yesterday that he had collected the
names of 147 people who had died, making it the worst such incident since
the US intervened in Afghanistan started in 2001. A phone call from the
governor of Farah province, Rohul Amin, in which he said that 130 people
had died, was played over the loudspeaker in the Afghan parliament in
Kabul, sparking demands for more control over US operations.

The protest in Farah City is the latest sign of a strong Afghan reaction
against US air attacks in which explosions inflict massive damage on
mud-brick houses that provide little protection against bomb blasts. A
claim by American officials, which was repeated by the US Defence
Secretary Robert Gates yesterday in Kabul, that the Taliban might have
killed people with grenades because they did not pay an opium tax is not
supported by any eyewitnesses and is disproved by pictures of deep bomb
craters, one of which is filled with water. Mr Gates expressed regret for
the incident but did not go so far as to accept blame.

The US admits that it did conduct an air strike at the time and place, but
it is becoming clear, going by the account of survivors, that the air raid
was not a brief attack by several aircraft acting on mistaken
intelligence, but a sustained bombardment in which three villages were
pounded to pieces. Farouq Faizy, an Afghan radio reporter who was one of
the first to reach the district of Bala Baluk, says villagers told him
that bombs suddenly, "began to fall at 8pm on Monday and went on until
10pm though some believe there were still bombs falling later". A
prolonged bombing attack would explain why there are so many dead, but
only 14 wounded received at Farah City hospital.

The attack was on three villages – Gerani, Gangabad and Koujaha – just off
the main road. It is a poppy growing area of poor farmers and there were
several fields of poppies near the villages. The Taliban are traditionally
strong here and the police and soldiers waiting around the villages were
said by eyewitnesses to be frightened. This would explain why Afghan army
commanders might have been eager to call for US airstrikes, though they
would have needed the agreement of American special operations officers.

Provincial officials, including the governor Rohul Amin, say that in the
lead-up to the bombing there was heavy fighting between hundreds of
Taliban and the Afghan Army and police. Going by Mr Faizy's account there
had been, "a fight some seven or eight kilometres from the three villages
in which two Afghan Army and a US Humvee were destroyed. A third Afghan
Army vehicle was captured." Three police were killed and four wounded, as
was one American and one Afghan army soldier. This was hardly a major
military engagement, but the pro-government forces seem to have got the
worst of it and their burned out vehicles still stand in the road.

The loss of life in Afghanistan from air strikes is often worse than in
Iraq where houses are more modern and usually have basements. In the
villages in Farah, people were living in compounds with mud brick walls
which crumbled easily. Pictures of the aftermath of the attack show people
standing beside the remains of a relative which often only looks like a
muddy pile of torn meat. One elderly white bearded man, said by neighbours
to have lost 30 members of his family, squats despairingly beside a body
that has been torn into shreds. Among the few wounded to stay alive is a
child with a badly burned face.

One reason why US bombing inflicts such heavy civilian casualties in
Afghanistan and Iraq is that both are very poor countries in which houses
are very crowded. When the US used air strikes and heavy artillery with
little restraint in the siege of Fallujah in 2004 it caused serious loss
of life. Wedding parties in both countries have often been mistaken for
"terrorist" gatherings and bombed.

In Afghanistan opinion polls show that support for the Taliban and for
armed attacks on foreign forces rises sharply after events like the
bombing in Farah. President Hamid Karzai frequently criticises the US
military for wantonly inflicting civilian casualties, attacks which his
opponents say is an opportunistic effort to burnish his nationalist
credentials.

The Taliban increasingly use tactics developed by insurgents in Iraq,
notably suicide bombing on a mass scale and IEDs, or mines in the road
detonated by a control wires or electronically. In Helmand province
yesterday a suicide bomber killed 12 civilians in an attack on a foreign
military convoy near the bazaar of the town of Gereshk. No foreign troops
were killed by the explosion, though two were wounded.


*****

The Irish Times - Saturday, November 7, 2009
Germany admits errors in air strike that killed civilians in Afghanistan

 http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2009/1107/1224258279913.html

BERLIN – German troops made mistakes but acted appropriately when they
ordered an air strike on two fuel trucks in Afghanistan that killed dozens
of civilians, defence minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg said yesterday.

In his first comments on the September 4th attack, Mr Guttenberg backed up
the German army’s initial assessment of a confidential Nato investigation
into the attack on Taliban fighters.

“Given the overall threat assessment, the air strike was militarily
appropriate,” Mr Guttenberg said after briefing parliamentary floor
leaders on the Nato report.

“There were procedural errors, certain shortcomings in training, and
questions were raised about the rules of engagement,” the conservative
minister added. “But even if there had been none, an air strike would have
been necessary.”

The attack was the most deadly operation involving German troops since the
second World War, killing 69 Taliban fighters and 30 civilians, according
to the Afghan government.

Mr Guttenberg also acknowledged there were civilian victims – the German
government’s first official recognition of this.

Germany has put pressure on Nato not to issue an outright condemnation of
the officer who ordered the strike, Col Georg Klein, because it could lead
to legal problems, according to German media reports.

The attack, carried out by a US F-15 fighter jet, was condemned by several
European foreign ministers. Germany has said it was necessary to protect
its troops from a possible suicide attack by Taliban fighters who had
hijacked the trucks.

Mr Guttenberg took office last month after a general election and has
quickly earned the respect of some soldiers, who see him as a straight
talker in touch with the troops.

He broke a taboo kept by his predecessor, Franz-Josef Jung, by using the
word “war” to refer to Germany’s participation in the Nato-led mission.

Germans remain highly sceptical of military operations more than 60 years
after the defeat of the Nazis. It was only a decade ago that German troops
participated in their first foreign combat mission since the war. –
(Reuters)

Smart Weapon Connector System Selected by Royal Netherlands Air
Force for F-16.

Business Wire | November 20, 2005 | COPYRIGHT 2005 Business Wire.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- EDO MBM Technology Ltd, a U.K. business
unit of EDO Corporation (NYSE: EDO), has received a contract from the
Royal Netherlands Air Force for F-16 pylon umbilicals equipped with its
Field Replaceable Connector System (FRCS). This is the first F-16 FRCS
contract and marks a significant revenue opportunity for EDO as operators
worldwide adopt the new certified standard.

EDO MBM originally developed the FRCS in response to the degraded
operational capability resulting from high separation loads and subsequent
harness and pylon damage being ...

__________________

EDO unit signs contract with Netherlands Air Force

Long Island Business News, Nov 21, 2005 by Ken Schachter
 http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4189/is_20051121/ai_n15848564/?tag=content;col1

A unit of EDO Corp. (NYSE: EDO) has signed a contract with the Royal
Netherlands Air Force for pylon umbilical connector systems used in the
release of smart bombs on F-16 jets, the company said.Details of the
contract with U.K.-based EDO MBM Technology were not disclosed.The
company's stock was up 16 cents to $26.74 in mid- afternoon trading.EDO's
Long Island operations include facilities in Bohemia and North Amityville.
Copyright 2005 Dolan Media Newswires
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserve
-----

****

2. Netherlands admits air strike that killed Afghan civilians

Afghanistan: Netherlands admits air strike that killed Afghan civilians


Source: Agence France-Presse (AFP)

Date: 02 Oct 2009

THE HAGUE, Oct 2, 2009 (AFP) – A Dutch warplane dropped the bomb which
Afghan authorities said killed nine civilians and four Taliban fighters in
the south of the country on Wednesday, the Dutch defence ministry said.

“It was a Dutch F-16 that dropped that laser-guided bomb,” ministry
spokeswoman Marloes Visser told AFP on Thursday.

Two Dutch F-16s based in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar were called
in to provide air support to soldiers from NATO’s International Security
Assistance Force (ISAF) engaged in intense combat with insurgents fighting
from a compound in Nad Ali district of troubled Helmand province on
Wednesday.

Only one of the warplanes dropped a bomb, said Visser.

“All of the procedures to pinpoint combatants were respected,” she said.
“If there had the smallest doubt regarding the presence of civilians they
wouldn’t have acted.”

According to Helmand region officials six children and three women were
killed in the attack, with at least three other civilians injured.

“That’s terrible, it is something we never wanted to see happen and we try
at all costs to avoid,” said Visser.

Civilian casualties are a sensitive issue in Afghanistan, creating a rift
between President Hamid Karzai’s government and international forces as
well as resentment on the ground against foreign troops.

Some 100,000 NATO and US-led troops are stationed in Afghanistan, helping
the government fight a Taliban insurgency that is at its most deadly since
the 2001 US-led invasion toppled the hardline regime.

 http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/KHII-7WFA3C?OpenDocument