WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The battle Saturday in which eight U.S. troops were killed was so fierce that, at one point, U.S. forces had to fall back as attackers breached the perimeter of their base, a U.S. military official with knowledge of the latest intelligence reports on the incident said.
The new revelations about the battle that engulfed Forward Operating Base Keating in Kamdesh District are a further indication of how pinned down and outmanned the troops were at the remote outpost. The base, in an eastern Afghanistan valley, was surrounded by ridge lines where the insurgents were able to fire down at U.S. and Afghan troops.
The facility had been scheduled to be closed within days, CNN has learned. The closing is part of a wider effort by the top commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, to cede remote outposts and consolidate troops in more populated areas to better protect Afghan civilians.
The United States now believes that about 200 insurgents -- mostly local fighters, with some Taliban organizers and leaders -- had been planning the attack for days, hiding mortars, rockets and heavy machine guns in the mountains. Sources said the Taliban may have been watching the troops make preparations to depart and launched their attack at a time of vulnerability.
The Taliban were able to use their higher positions to fire into the base, pinning down the troops. As the attack progressed, the troops were forced back when enemy fighters managed to breach the outer perimeter of the outpost, the source said.
That led to especially intense fighting that continued until the U.S. troops could again secure the area, several sources said.
The battle erupted about 5 a.m. Saturday and lasted 12 hours, with the most intense fighting going on for about seven hours.
The United States was able to get air support overhead within half an hour of the attacked troops' call for help, but a series of problems hindered mounting any sustained counterattack. The source said smoke from a fire lit by the insurgents obscured vision on the ground and in the air, and the narrowness of the valley hobbled any intense close air support.
Instead, Apache helicopters went in waves of two to four, firing at the Taliban fighters. But return fire frequently forced the helicopters back. One Apache was hit.
It took hours to evacuate the dead and wounded. During much of the fight, medical-evacuation helicopters had a hard time getting in because the landing zone was under attack. Even when the helicopters were able to land, some of the wounded resisting leaving while the battle raged.
Eventually, the tide turned for the U.S. and Afghan troops. More than 100 militants were killed, according to NATO's International Security Assistance Force.
Remains of four of the U.S. dead were flown back to Dover Air Force Base on Tuesday morning.
Associated Press
KABUL, Afghanistan - Insurgents fought their way inside an American base in Afghanistan last weekend in a rare security breach before they were driven back under heavy fire during the deadliest battle for U.S. troops in more than a year, a U.S. official said yesterday.
The bold assault raised serious questions about the security of thinly manned outposts spread across the troubled nation's volatile border region with Pakistan, and reflects growing insurgent resolve.
It comes as pressure is building on the Obama administration to decide a way forward in the grinding conflict.
Last night, a large blast sounded in the center of Afghanistan's capital and a plume of smoke was seen rising from a site in downtown Kabul. Further details were not immediately available. The Afghan capital has been hit several times in recent months by suicide bombers and roadside bombs. The attacks usually target international military forces or government installations, but Afghan businesses and civilians are also often killed or injured.
Saturday's nearly six-hour battle in the mountainous Kamdesh district, near the eastern border with Pakistan, left eight American and three Afghan soldiers dead - one of the heaviest U.S. losses of life in a single battle since the war began.
NATO says about 100 insurgents were also killed.
Most U.S. installations in Iraq and Afghanistan are guarded with rings of razor wire, huge sand-filled barriers, blast walls, and security cameras. It is rare - almost unheard of - for insurgents to breach such defenses.
Maj. T.G. Taylor, an American public affairs officer, said it was unclear how the attackers penetrated the base or how many there were.
Taylor said that 24 Americans and 10 Afghan soldiers were wounded during the fighting. Large portions of the base burned down, probably from incoming rocket and machine-gun fire, he said.
The evening before the attack, insurgents made up mostly of local Nuristani fighters began warning villagers "that something was going to go down and asked them to evacuate," Taylor said in an interview from nearby Jalalabad.
It is unclear whether civilians fled, but local police units abandoned the village - nearly all except the police chief who was later executed.
The assault began around dawn Saturday.
About 200 fighters bombarded a joint U.S.-Afghan army outpost with small arms, rocket-propelled grenades, and mortar shells. Fire came from three sides simultaneously - including a local mosque they took over, buildings in the village, and high ground above the outpost.
Insurgents also attacked an observation post perched on a ridge above manned by another American platoon.
Nuristan Gov. Jamaludin Badar said that within the first minute alone, militants unleashed 32 rockets and four artillery shells.
"They were having trouble identifying the location of the attackers," Badar said of Afghan troops defending the bases. "They were having trouble figuring out where the fire was coming from."
Only three American platoons were deployed at the two posts, mostly troops from Task Force Mountain Warrior of the Fourth Brigade Combat Team, Fourth Infantry Division, based at Fort Carson outside Colorado Springs. U.S. infantry platoons ordinarily number 30 to 40 soldiers.
Badar said that several Afghan army checkpoints in Kamdesh were overrun.
Coalition forces fended off the assault with "a combination of close air support and small-arms fire," Taylor said. NATO officials have said that the coalition used artillery and helicopter gunships.
But the worst of the battle came when attackers were able to "breach the perimeter of one of the bases and get inside," Taylor said. "They got a foothold on the base. But coalition and Afghan national army forces consolidated their positions, retook the parts of the base the enemy was on, and reestablished security." _________________ A la guerre comme a la guerre èëè âòîðàÿ ðåäàêöèÿ Çàáóãîðíîâà
As though to reinforce his point, insurgents carried out a bold daylight strike on two bases on the Pakistani border, killing eight Americans and four Afghan security officers in the deadliest attack for American soldiers in more than a year, Afghan and American officials said Sunday....
Òóò íóæåí âûñîêèé ìîðàëüíûé äóõ, ÷òîáû âîåâàòü ëèöîì ê ëèöó, êîòîðîãî êàê ðàç è íåòó. Ó âûñøåãî àðìåéñêîãî ðóêîâîäñòâà, åñòåñòâåííî, íåòó. Ïî íèì óäàðèëè - è îíè ñðàçó îòñòóïëåíèå èãðàþò. Òèïà, óæî íà ðàâíèíå ìû èì ïîêàæåì! È êóëà÷êîì ïîãðîçèòü.
Íó òàê òåïåðü âîîäóøåâëåííûå òàëèáû áóäóò ïî íèì ïîñòîÿííî óäàðû íàíîñèòü. Ýòî - çàêîí âîéíû. Ãëóïî îá ýòîì íå çíàòü. _________________ A la guerre comme a la guerre èëè âòîðàÿ ðåäàêöèÿ Çàáóãîðíîâà
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uj6sRlzgik&feature=player_embedded
À åñëè åù¸ âûÿñíèòñÿ ÷òî äàííàÿ âèäåîçàïèñü ïîäëèííàÿ - òîãäà âîîáùå ïîçîð. Ïîëó÷àåòñÿ ÷òî àìåðèêàíöû íå ïðîñòî îòñòóïàþò, íî áåãóò, áðîñàÿ îðóæèå. _________________ A la guerre comme a la guerre èëè âòîðàÿ ðåäàêöèÿ Çàáóãîðíîâà
Following President Obama's speech on our common mission in Afghanistan, NATO members and other countries pledged about 7,000 additional troops. My country committed just under 1,000, which makes Georgia the highest per-capita troop contributor to the war effort.
Some might be surprised that a small country not yet in NATO—and partly occupied by more than 10,000 hostile Russian troops—would make this commitment to an Allied mission abroad. Let me explain why it makes perfect sense.
As President Obama pointed out, the threat of violent extremism endangers all nations that subscribe to the principles of liberal democracy. Those principles made America the target on 9/11. Spain was hit on March 11, 2004, and Britain on July 7, 2005. Any of our countries could be next.
We see ourselves as firmly allied with the values of the U.S. and the trans-Atlantic community. That is why we are sending serious forces—a heavy battalion and two light companies—with no restrictions on the kinds of missions and combat in which they can participate. Almost 800 will be deploying with the U.S. Marines into Helmand Province, where some of the most intense fighting has occurred.
Georgia is making contributions in other ways. The U.S. and NATO have already started using Georgian ports, rail lines and roads to transport nonlethal supplies to Afghanistan. American military experts have concluded this is a safe and cost-saving transit route, and we stand ready to expand its use.
Less than a decade ago, Georgia was considered by many to be a failing state. But with the support of our friends in the West, we were able to make dramatic changes.
Our experience as a young democracy gives us confidence that success is possible on the political and civil fronts in Afghanistan, and we will do everything possible to help strengthen Afghanistan's institutions. Our reform know-how could help in training Afghanistan's police forces and other civil servants, an effort that is crucial to achieving long-term stability and a more transparent government.
The test of the bonds among nations is not what we do when it is easy, but rather what we do when it is hard. Georgia has been grateful for the extent to which the U.S. and Europe have stood alongside us over recent years. Now we are proud to stand—and fight—alongside you.
Mr. Saakashvili is president of Georgia. _________________ A la guerre comme a la guerre èëè âòîðàÿ ðåäàêöèÿ Çàáóãîðíîâà
Ðóêîâîäèòåëü ðàññëåäîâàíèÿ ñ àôãàíñêîé ñòîðîíû Àñàäóëëà Âàôà ñîîáùèë, ÷òî çà êàæäîãî óáèòîãî áóäåò âûïëà÷åíî ïî 2000 äîëëàðîâ êîìïåíñàöèè. _________________ A la guerre comme a la guerre èëè âòîðàÿ ðåäàêöèÿ Çàáóãîðíîâà
The report into the deaths has provoked demonstrations
Jerome Starkey In Kabul
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”.
The allegations of civilian casualties led to protests in Kabul and Jalalabad, with children as young as 10 chanting “Death to America” and demanding that foreign forces should leave Afghanistan at once.
President Karzai sent a team of investigators to Narang district, in eastern Kunar province, after reports of a massacre first surfaced on Monday.
“The delegation concluded that a unit of international forces descended from a plane Sunday night into Ghazi Khan village in Narang district of the eastern province of Kunar and took ten people from three homes, eight of them school students in grades six, nine and ten, one of them a guest, the rest from the same family, and shot them dead,” a statement on President Karzai’s website said.
Assadullah Wafa, who led the investigation, said that US soldiers flew to Kunar from Kabul, suggesting that they were part of a special forces unit.
“At around 1 am, three nights ago, some American troops with helicopters left Kabul and landed around 2km away from the village,” he told The Times. “The troops walked from the helicopters to the houses and, according to my investigation, they gathered all the students from two rooms, into one room, and opened fire.” Mr Wafa, a former governor of Helmand province, met President Karzai to discuss his findings yesterday. “I spoke to the local headmaster,” he said. “It’s impossible they were al-Qaeda. They were children, they were civilians, they were innocent. I condemn this attack.”
In a telephone interview last night, the headmaster said that the victims were asleep in three rooms when the troops arrived. “Seven students were in one room,” said Rahman Jan Ehsas. “A student and one guest were in another room, a guest room, and a farmer was asleep with his wife in a third building.
“First the foreign troops entered the guest room and shot two of them. Then they entered another room and handcuffed the seven students. Then they killed them. Abdul Khaliq [the farmer] heard shooting and came outside. When they saw him they shot him as well. He was outside. That’s why his wife wasn’t killed.”
A local elder, Jan Mohammed, said that three boys were killed in one room and five were handcuffed before they were shot. “I saw their school books covered in blood,” he said.
The investigation found that eight of the victims were aged from 11 to 17. The guest was a shepherd boy, 12, called Samar Gul, the headmaster said. He said that six of the students were at high school and two were at primary school. He said that all the students were his nephews. In Jalalabad, protesters set alight a US flag and an effigy of President Obama after chanting “Death to Obama” and “Death to foreign forces”. In Kabul, protesters held up banners showing photographs of dead children alongside placards demanding “Foreign troops leave Afghanistan” and “Stop killing us”.
Hekmatullah, 10, a protester, said: “We’re sick of Americans bombing us.” Samiullah Miakhel, 60, a protester. said: “The Americans are just all the time killing civilians.”
Nato’s International Security Assistance Force said that there was “no direct evidence to substantiate” Mr Wafa’s claims that unarmed civilians were harmed in what it described as a “joint coalition and Afghan security force” operation.
“As the joint assault force entered the village they came under fire from several buildings and in returning fire killed nine individuals,” he said.
? Eight Americans were killed in an attack in eastern Afghanistan yesterday (Jerome Starkey writes). Nato’s International Security Assistance Force said that the dead were not uniformed soldiers. Afghan sources said that they were civilians killed in a suicide attack on a compound in Khost province. The US Embassy in Kabul said: “Eight Americans have been killed in an attack on RC-East,” referring to the military region of eastern Afghanistan that includes 14 provinces.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/afghanistan/article7040166.ece Nato admits that deaths of 8 boys were a mistake
Jerome Starkey, Kabul
Clockwise from top left: Sebhanullah, 17; Attahullah, 15; Rahimullah, 17; Matiullah, 16; guest Samar Gul, 12; Ismael, 12; Atiqullah, 15; and Samiullah, 12
Clockwise from top left: Sebhanullah, 17; Attahullah, 15; Rahimullah, 17; Matiullah, 16; guest Samar Gul, 12; Ismael, 12; Atiqullah, 15; and (not shown) Samiullah, 12
A night-time raid in eastern Afghanistan in which eight schoolboys from one family were killed was carried out on the basis of faulty intelligence and should never have been authorised, a Times investigation has found.
Ten children and teenagers died when troops stormed a remote mountain compound near the border with Pakistan in December.
At the time, Nato claimed that the assault force was targeting a “known insurgent group responsible for a series of violent attacks”. Officials said that the victims were involved in making and smuggling improvised explosive devices. But Western sources close to the case now agree that the victims were all aged 12 to 18 and were not involved in insurgent activity.
Nato sources say that the raid should never have been authorised. “Knowing what we know now, it would probably not have been a justifiable attack,” an official in Kabul told The Times. “We don’t now believe that we busted a major ring.”
When reports of the raid first surfaced eight weeks ago, The Times contacted the police chief in Kunar province and then the boys’ head-master and uncle, Rahman Jan Ehsas.
Two men whose children and other relatives were killed agreed to come to Kabul to describe the incident. They provided pictures of their dead sons, a sketched map of the compound and copies of the compensation claim forms signed by local officials detailing their sons’ names, relatives and positions at school. Their story was supported by Western military sources.
Farooq Abdul Ajan, who lost two sons, two brothers, three nephews and a cousin in the raid, said that the soldiers had had no idea whom they were killing. Afghan investigators, local officials and MPs from the province all maintain that the boys were innocent.
Nato’s statement, issued four days after the event, said that troops were attacked “from several buildings” as they entered the village. Yesterday it said that “ultimately, we did determine this to be a civilian casualty incident”.
Anger is growing over civilian casualties. General Stanley McChrystal, the US commander, has warned that Nato risks “strategic defeat” by causing civilian deaths. The Independent Human Rights Commission said that more than 63 civilians had died in the past two weeks, including 27 killed when US special forces ordered an airstrike on a convoy of minibuses in the central Daikundi province. Nato recently introduced a new tactical directive to limit the use of night raids, the coalition’s chief legal adviser, Colonel Richard Gross, said. “General McChrystal realised that this was one of the areas where we had to change the way we do business, or else we would not win this war,” he said.
Exactly who carried out the Narang raid is unclear. Colonel Gross said that US forces were present but did not lead the operation. Nato insists that the troops were not part of the International Security Assistance Force (Isaf). US forces based in Kunar denied any knowledge of the raid.
Senior Western officers have hinted that the “trigger pullers” were Afghan; the Afghan Defence Ministry said its troops were not involved. Mohammed Afzal, Narang’s district police chief, insisted that US special forces were involved.Assadullah Wafa, who led an Afghan investigation into the incident, said that relatives would get $2,000 compensation for each person killed. _________________ A la guerre comme a la guerre èëè âòîðàÿ ðåäàêöèÿ Çàáóãîðíîâà
...Assadullah Wafa, who led the investigation, said that US soldiers flew to Kunar from Kabul, suggesting that they were part of a special forces unit.
“At around 1 am, three nights ago, some American troops with helicopters left Kabul and landed around 2km away from the village,” he told The Times. “The troops walked from the helicopters to the houses and, according to my investigation, they gathered all the students from two rooms, into one room, and opened fire.” Mr Wafa, a former governor of Helmand province, met President Karzai to discuss his findings yesterday. “I spoke to the local headmaster,” he said. “It’s impossible they were al-Qaeda. They were children, they were civilians, they were innocent. I condemn this attack.”
In a telephone interview last night, the headmaster said that the victims were asleep in three rooms when the troops arrived. “Seven students were in one room,” said Rahman Jan Ehsas. “A student and one guest were in another room, a guest room, and a farmer was asleep with his wife in a third building.
“First the foreign troops entered the guest room and shot two of them. Then they entered another room and handcuffed the seven students. Then they killed them. Abdul Khaliq [the farmer] heard shooting and came outside. When they saw him they shot him as well. He was outside. That’s why his wife wasn’t killed.”
A local elder, Jan Mohammed, said that three boys were killed in one room and five were handcuffed before they were shot. “I saw their school books covered in blood,” he said.
The investigation found that eight of the victims were aged from 11 to 17. The guest was a shepherd boy, 12, called Samar Gul, the headmaster said. He said that six of the students were at high school and two were at primary school. He said that all the students were his nephews. In Jalalabad, protesters set alight a US flag and an effigy of President Obama after chanting “Death to Obama” and “Death to foreign forces”. In Kabul, protesters held up banners showing photographs of dead children alongside placards demanding “Foreign troops leave Afghanistan” and “Stop killing us”... _________________ A la guerre comme a la guerre èëè âòîðàÿ ðåäàêöèÿ Çàáóãîðíîâà
Íåñìîòðÿ íà ïîñëåäíèå óñïåõè ñèë ÍÀÒÎ â áîðüáå ñ òàëèáàìè, ïîçèöèè áîåâèêîâ â Àôãàíèñòàíå âñå åùå î÷åíü ñèëüíû. Îíè êîíòðîëèðóþò áîëüøèíñòâî ïðîâèíöèé, à ïðîèçâîäñòâî è òðàíñïîðòèðîâêà ãåðîèíà áüåò âñå íîâûå ðåêîðäû.
Ñ íà÷àëà ãîäà ïîòåðè êîàëèöèîííûõ ñèë â Àôãàíèñòàíå óæå ñîñòàâèëè 98 ÷åëîâåê, 16 èç íèõ ïðèõîäèòñÿ íà àìåðèêàíñêèõ ñîëäàò. _________________ A la guerre comme a la guerre èëè âòîðàÿ ðåäàêöèÿ Çàáóãîðíîâà
Àäâîêàòû íåêîòîðûõ ïîäîçðåâàåìûõ îòðèöàþò îáâèíåíèÿ â óáèéñòâå è ïðåñòóïíîì ñãîâîðå, îäíàêî ïîëíîìàñøòàáíûé ïðîöåññ ïî äåëó åùå íå íà÷àëñÿ. Ïðåäñòàâèòåëü Ïåíòàãîíà ìàéîð Êýòëèí Òåðíåð ñîîáùèëà, ÷òî óãîëîâíîå äåëî íàõîäèòñÿ â ïåðâè÷íîé ôàçå ðàññëåäîâàíèÿ è ÷òî âîåííûå ïðîêóðîðû åùå íå ïðèíÿëè ðåøåíèå î òîì, ïðîäîëæàòü ëè ïðîöåññ.
Îôèöèàëüíûé ïðåäñòàâèòåëü Ïåíòàãîíà Äæîô Ìàððåëë, îäíàêî, ñêàçàë, ÷òî, äàæå åñëè îáâèíåíèÿ íå áóäóò äîêàçàíû, îíè óñïåëè ïîâðåäèòü èìèäæó àìåðèêàíñêîé àðìèè. _________________ A la guerre comme a la guerre èëè âòîðàÿ ðåäàêöèÿ Çàáóãîðíîâà
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Twelve U.S. soldiers have been charged with gruesome crimes in Afghanistan ranging from murdering civilians to keeping body parts as war trophies -- revelations that the Pentagon said on Thursday damaged America's image around the world.
The infantry soldiers from the 5th Stryker Brigade based in Washington state deployed to Kandahar province a year ago and the murders occurred between January and March, according to charges by army prosecutors made public this week.
"Allegations like this are ... very serious," Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell told a news briefing.
"Clearly, even if these allegations are proved to be untrue, it is unhelpful. It does not help the perceptions of our forces around the world."
Morrell declined to comment on the specifics of the charges because the case is still in the military justice system.
Five soldiers were charged in June with the murder of three Afghan civilians in Kandahar province.
But new charges disclosed to the media on Wednesday show seven others have also been charged in the case and face accusations that include conspiracy to cover-up the crime.
An Army spokeswoman said four of the soldiers have been charged for keeping body parts, which beyond finger bones and a skull include leg bones and a human tooth. It was unclear where the remains had come from based on the charge sheets.
Morrell said the allegations had yet to be proven, but were "serious nonetheless."
"They are, I think you all would agree, an aberration in terms of the behavior of our forces, if true, around the world," he said.
"We've got 150,000 men and women deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan right now whose mission is to protect the Iraqi and Afghan people," he said. "They are risking their lives to protect the Iraqi and Afghan people.
"So I don't believe the allegations here against those few individuals are representative of the behavior or the attitudes of the entire force," Morrell said.
The charges, whether ultimately proven true or not, had already damaged the U.S. military's reputation, he said.
(Reporting by Phil Stewart, Editing by Anthony Boadle) _________________ A la guerre comme a la guerre èëè âòîðàÿ ðåäàêöèÿ Çàáóãîðíîâà
TACOMA, Wash. -- New details in Army charge sheets released this week paint a disturbing picture of depravity, deceit and savage internal discipline involving at least 12 Stryker soldiers from Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state during their recent deployment to Afghanistan.
The soldiers, all from the same company in the 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, are charged with a total of 76 crimes, including the premeditated murders of three Afghan civilians and the beating of one or more fellow soldiers.
Six of the men face charges of keeping body parts, including a skull and fingers, from Afghan corpses as trophies, according to the charging documents.
One soldier is alleged to have stabbed a corpse in December. Three soldiers face charges of wrongfully taking and/or possessing photographs of dead bodies.
The highest-ranking member of the group, Staff Sgt. Calvin Gibbs, is accused of showing fingers from a corpse to a soldier in an attempt to keep him from talking to Army investigators about his and other soldiers' alleged drug use.
Gibbs and four other soldiers from Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment face charges of murdering Afghan noncombatants and conspiracy to commit premeditated murder in Kandahar province.
The other four are Spc. Jeremy Morlock, Spc. Michael Wagnon II, Spc. Adam Winfield and Pfc. Andrew Holmes. All five have been confined since returning from Afghanistan.
Christopher Winfield, Winfield's father, told The Associated Press that he tried nearly a half dozen times to pass an urgent message from his son to the Army about the slaying of an Afghan civilian and threats to keep the soldier quiet about the matter.
Morlock and Gibbs are the only soldiers charged in all three murders, which occurred in January, February and May.
The Afghan men were killed with grenades, shot or both.
All 12 defendants have been assigned military counsel.
Soldiers face charges over secret 'kill team' which allegedly murdered at random and collected fingers as trophies of war
Stryker soldiers who allegedly plotted to kill Afghan civilians. Andrew Holmes, Michael Wagnon, Jeremy Morlock and Adam Winfield are four of the five Stryker soldiers who face murder charges. Photograph: Public Domain
Twelve American soldiers face charges over a secret "kill team" that allegedly blew up and shot Afghan civilians at random and collected their fingers as trophies.
Five of the soldiers are charged with murdering three Afghan men who were allegedly killed for sport in separate attacks this year. Seven others are accused of covering up the killings and assaulting a recruit who exposed the murders when he reported other abuses, including members of the unit smoking hashish stolen from civilians.
In one of the most serious accusations of war crimes to emerge from the Afghan conflict, the killings are alleged to have been carried out by members of a Stryker infantry brigade based in Kandahar province in southern Afghanistan.
According to investigators and legal documents, discussion of killing Afghan civilians began after the arrival of Staff Sergeant Calvin Gibbs at forward operating base Ramrod last November. Other soldiers told the army's criminal investigation command that Gibbs boasted of the things he got away with while serving in Iraq and said how easy it would be to "toss a grenade at someone and kill them".
One soldier said he believed Gibbs was "feeling out the platoon".
Investigators said Gibbs, 25, hatched a plan with another soldier, Jeremy Morlock, 22, and other members of the unit to form a "kill team". While on patrol over the following months they allegedly killed at least three Afghan civilians. According to the charge sheet, the first target was Gul Mudin, who was killed "by means of throwing a fragmentary grenade at him and shooting him with a rifle", when the patrol entered the village of La Mohammed Kalay in January.
Morlock and another soldier, Andrew Holmes, were on guard at the edge of a poppy field when Mudin emerged and stopped on the other side of a wall from the soldiers. Gibbs allegedly handed Morlock a grenade who armed it and dropped it over the wall next to the Afghan and dived for cover. Holmes, 19, then allegedly fired over the wall.
Later in the day, Morlock is alleged to have told Holmes that the killing was for fun and threatened him if he told anyone.
The second victim, Marach Agha, was shot and killed the following month. Gibbs is alleged to have shot him and placed a Kalashnikov next to the body to justify the killing. In May Mullah Adadhdad was killed after being shot and attacked with a grenade.
The Army Times reported that a least one of the soldiers collected the fingers of the victims as souvenirs and that some of them posed for photographs with the bodies.
Five soldiers – Gibbs, Morlock, Holmes, Michael Wagnon and Adam Winfield – are accused of murder and aggravated assault among other charges. All of the soldiers have denied the charges. They face the death penalty or life in prison if convicted.
The killings came to light in May after the army began investigating a brutal assault on a soldier who told superiors that members of his unit were smoking hashish. The Army Times reported that members of the unit regularly smoked the drug on duty and sometimes stole it from civilians.
The soldier, who was straight out of basic training and has not been named, said he witnessed the smoking of hashish and drinking of smuggled alcohol but initially did not report it out of loyalty to his comrades. But when he returned from an assignment at an army headquarters and discovered soldiers using the shipping container in which he was billeted to smoke hashish he reported it.
Two days later members of his platoon, including Gibbs and Morlock, accused him of "snitching", gave him a beating and told him to keep his mouth shut. The soldier reported the beating and threats to his officers and then told investigators what he knew of the "kill team".
Following the arrest of the original five accused in June, seven other soldiers were charged last month with attempting to cover up the killings and violent assault on the soldier who reported the smoking of hashish. The charges will be considered by a military grand jury later this month which will decide if there is enough evidence for a court martial. Army investigators say Morlock has admitted his involvement in the killings and given details about the role of others including Gibbs. But his lawyer, Michael Waddington, is seeking to have that confession suppressed because he says his client was interviewed while under the influence of prescription drugs taken for battlefield injuries and that he was also suffering from traumatic brain injury.
"Our position is that his statements were incoherent, and taken while he was under a cocktail of drugs that shouldn't have been mixed," Waddington told the Seattle Times. _________________ A la guerre comme a la guerre èëè âòîðàÿ ðåäàêöèÿ Çàáóãîðíîâà
À ýòè íåò, âèäåëè, íåáîñü â ñâîåé ðîäíîé Àìåðèêå íèêîìó ïàëü÷èêè íå ðåçàëè, çóáû íå âûðûâàëè.... à çäåñü, â Àôãàíèñòàíå, âñ¸ ïîçâîëåíî, âñ¸ ìîæíî, ãëóõîìàíü.... åñòü ãäå ðàçãóëÿòüñÿ.... _________________ A la guerre comme a la guerre èëè âòîðàÿ ðåäàêöèÿ Çàáóãîðíîâà
 ìèíóâøóþ ñóááîòó â Êóíäóçå æåðòâàìè òåðàêòà ñòàëè 10 àôãàíöåâ. Ïðèêðåïëåííîå ê ìîòîöèêëó âçðûâíîå óñòðîéñòâî ñðàáîòàëî íà îæèâëåííîì ðûíêå íà ïóòè êîðòåæà îäíîãî èç êîìàíäèðîâ ìåñòíîé ïîëèöèè, êîòîðûé ñêîí÷àëñÿ íà ìåñòå.  ÷èñëå óáèòûõ áûëè òðîå äåòåé, åùå 18 àôãàíöåâ ïîëó÷èëè ðàíåíèÿ. _________________ A la guerre comme a la guerre èëè âòîðàÿ ðåäàêöèÿ Çàáóãîðíîâà
ASADABAD, Afghanistan (AFP) – An emotional Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Saturday told international troops to "stop their operations in our land", his strongest remarks yet over mistaken killings of civilians.
Karzai's comments came after a week in which a relative of his was killed in a raid by foreign forces and he rejected an apology by the US commander of troops General David Petraeus for the deaths of nine children in a NATO strike.
"I would like to ask NATO and the US with honour and humbleness and not with arrogance to stop their operations in our land," Karzai said in Pashto as he visited the dead children's relatives in Kunar province, eastern Afghanistan.
"We are very tolerant people but now our tolerance has run out."
In an apparent reference to neighbouring Pakistan, where insurgents have hideouts in lawless border regions, Western-backed Karzai said international forces "should go and fight this war where we have showed them (it is)".
"This war is not in our land," Karzai added.
Karzai's spokesman Waheed Omer said the president's remarks had been urging an end to civilian casualties in international operations.
"The president, on behalf of the Afghan people, renewed his call on NATO to stop operations that bring about unnecessary losses to the Afghan people," Omer said.
"We have always maintained that the war on terror cannot be fought in the towns and villages of Afghanistan."
During his visit to Kunar, Karzai also met relatives of those caught up in another incident in the province in which Afghan officials say 65 people died but which ISAF says left nine people injured.
The Afghan president wept as he held a young child who he said had her leg amputated following the latter attack, an AFP reporter said.
The family of every person killed who attended was given 100,000 Afghanis ($2,300), while those injured received half that amount from the head of an official delegation investigating civilian casualties, the reporter added.
The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) did not respond to Karzai's comments.
However, in a tactical directive issued last year, Petraeus called on forces to step up their efforts to minimise civilian casualties, adding: "Every Afghan civilian death diminishes our cause."
The latest Kunar incident, which occurred this month as the nine children gathered firewood, forced the ever-sensitive issue of civilian casualties caused by international troops back to the top of the political agenda.
On Sunday, Karzai angrily rejected a public apology from Petraeus, the US commander of foreign troops, over the deaths.
US Defense Secretary Robert Gates also made a personal apology to Karzai during a visit to Afghanistan Monday.
Then on Thursday, it emerged that Karzai's father's cousin had been shot dead near his home in the family's village in Kandahar province, southern Afghanistan.
A UN report Wednesday revealed that the deaths of Afghan civilians in the war had increased 15 percent to a record high last year, adding that insurgents were responsible for three-quarters of the killings.
The report recorded 2,777 civilian deaths last year, underscoring the level of violence in the country as foreign troops prepare to start handing control of security to Afghan forces in some areas from July.
Afghan security forces are due to take responsibility for security across the country by 2014, allowing international combat forces to withdraw.
There are currently around 140,000 international troops serving in Afghanistan, around two-thirds of them from the United States. _________________ A la guerre comme a la guerre èëè âòîðàÿ ðåäàêöèÿ Çàáóãîðíîâà
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