Military Investigation Finds More Civilians Died in Afghan Attack
By VOA News
08 October 2008
A newspaper reports that the U.S. military has found that an American airstrike on a village in Afghanistan killed more civilians than American commanders have acknowledged.
The New York Times reported Wednesday that military investigators have concluded that the August 22 airstrike in western Afghanistan's Herat province killed more than 30 civilians.
The U.S. military has insisted that only five to seven civilians were killed in the attack against a suspected Taliban compound, but Afghan and United Nations officials said the airstrike killed at least 90 civilians and most were children.
The Times says results of the military's investigation were described to reporters by two unnamed officials because results of the probe have not been made public.
But Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said today that military officials have not finished work on their investigation and they are trying to complete their work quickly.
The attack caused tensions between the government of Afghanistan and the U.S. military under the command of General David McKiernan.
McKiernan said in early September that the military would re-investigate the operation because new evidence emerged, including pictures and mobile phone video of the village after the attack.
The video reportedly shows scores of bodies, including children, laid out inside a village mosque.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.
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