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Similar Osama bin Laden, Mohamed Atta, Ziad Jarrah | ||
Tarnak farms eod missions afghnistan 2001 2002
Tarnak Farms refers to a former Afghan training camp near Kandahar, which served as a base to Osama Bin Laden and his followers from 1998 to 2001.
Contents
- Tarnak farms eod missions afghnistan 2001 2002
- Home to bin Laden
- Intelligence Trove
- April 17 2002 friendly fire incident
- References
The camp is very close to the Kandahar airport.
After the United States forces took over the airport, they used the ruins for their own training exercises.
Home to bin Laden
In 1998, Bin Laden moved his followers from Nazim Jihad to Tarnak Farms following Northern Alliance threats to attack Jalalabad.
It was widely reported that a visit to the Tarnak Farms in 2000 represented a rare opportunity to kill Osama Bin Laden. It was reported that Tarnak Farms was one of bin Laden's homes, but President Clinton was shown drone footage that reportedly showed a child's swingset at the camp and was "haunted" at the prospect of bombing innocent families.
Intelligence Trove
In December 2001 American forces occupied the site. They claim they found a wealth of intelligence. The camp was taken over by the Americans to be used for their training.
April 17, 2002 friendly fire incident
On April 17, 2002, four Canadian soldiers of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry were killed at this site while conducting a night time live-fire training exercise. Two passing American F-16s piloted by U.S. Air National Guard Majors Harry Schmidt and William Umbach had mistaken the machine gun and anti-tank weapons flashes of the exercise for enemy fire and dropped a 227-kilogram (500 lb) Mark 82 laser-guided bomb on the Canadian position, despite orders to await confirmation.
The bomb killed Canadian Forces Sgt Marc Leger, Cpl Ainsworth Dyer, Pte Richard Green and Pte Nathan Lloyd Smith and wounded eight other CF soldiers.