Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group held a vigil at the cenotaph opposite Rochdale Town Hall last night (Tuesday 8 December 2009).
They were mourning the deaths of British soldiers in Afghanistan, including Adam Drane, the 100th British soldier to be killed there this year, and the deaths of an estimated 300,000 Afghan civilians killed since the NATO invasion in 2001.
Members of the group read the names of all 100 British troops killed in Afghanistan since 1 January and the names of 100 of the Afghan civilians. The latter group included many children, such as Malama aged 10 years, Fatima aged 8 years, Hassana aged 6 years, Zahida aged 5 years, Royana and Ullah aged 3 years and Noora Ali and Sayed Rahman; all of whom were killed in NATO air-strikes.
The group observed periods of silence for all the dead and called for British troops to be brought home from Afghanistan.
On behalf of the Peace Group, Philip Gilligan said: "This is a day which we hoped would never come, but while Gordon Brown continues to send our young men and women to Afghanistan to kill and be killed in NATO's disastrous and futile war, it was inevitable that it would arrive.
"Meanwhile, more and more Afghan civilians are being killed and more and more people in Britain are calling for our troops to be brought home. We must remember all the dead and continue to demand that the troops are brought home. The killing must stop."
Reports of Activities 
Peace Group remember Afghanistan dead