The Associated Press May 11, 2009
Afghan group: Taliban may have used burning agent
By Jason Stazoiso
KABUL (AP) — An Afghan human rights group said Monday that government officials suspect Taliban fighters attacked villagers sheltering from a U.S.-Taliban battle with flammable material or weapons, causing severe burns.
Afghan doctors are treating 16 patients with severe burns suffered in a May 4 battle in Farah province that President Hamid Karzai has said killed up to 130 civilians. The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission is investigating the possible use of white phosphorus or another incendiary chemical against villagers during the battle.
Nader Nadery, a commission official, said Farah's governor told the group's researchers that many of those killed in the battle also had severe burns.
"The governor confirmed the possibility of the Taliban throwing flammable stuff into the quarters where people were taking refuge," Nadery said.
The commission believes about 120 people died in the battle in two villages in Farah province, though Nadery said the group couldn't say how many were civilians and how many were militants. Nadery said many of the victims appear to have been from the northern province of Badghis, and had been in Farah to harvest opium poppies.
U.S. military spokesman Col. Gren Julian said the U.S. military didn't use white phosphorus — which can be used for illumination or to create smoke screens — in the battle. "So if it was used at all it had to be the insurgents," he said.
The U.S. military does not appear to be investigating whether insurgents used white phosphorus. "If anybody has any evidence, I'd love to hear about it, but we're just trying to get people to think along the lines of who should be responsible for this thing, and very few are looking at the insurgents as being responsible," Julian said.
Though Karzai has accused U.S. airstrikes of killing 130 civilians, the military insists that militants not only used villagers as human shields, but forced them into compounds at the battle site and fired at U.S. and Afghan forces from those compounds in the hopes the civilians would be killed, thereby causing a civilian casualty crisis.
"I think it was more of a human sacrifice," Julian said. "Their intent was to create a civilian casualty crisis. This was a deliberate plan."
The U.S. military issued a preliminary report from investigators that said civilians died in Farah, but the U.S. did not say how many died, and the Afghan government did not endorse the report. The government is expected to release its report — likely saying a large number of civilians died — in coming days, after Karzai returns from overseas.
The allegations that one of the parties in the fight may have used white phosphorus or another chemical agent could deepen controversy around the already contentious case. Human rights investigators started asking questions about the weapons used in the battle after doctors said villagers suffered "unusual" burns.
Using white phosphorus to illuminate a target or create smoke is considered legitimate under international law, but rights groups say its use over populated areas can indiscriminately burn civilians and constitutes a war crime.
White phosphorus is a spontaneously flammable material that can cause painful chemical burns. It is used to mark targets, create smoke screens or as a weapon, and can be delivered by shells, flares or hand grenades, according to GlobalSecurity.org.
© Copyright 2009, The Associated Press
