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U.S. Denies Role In Kandahar Hospital Massacre
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| Bodies in Mir Wais hopital in Kandahar after US forces attacked it with grenades |
KANDAHAR, Jan. 29 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – U.S. forces in Afghanistan insisted Tuesday they did not take part in the raid on a hospital ward in Kandahar that resulted in the slaughter of six Al-Qaeda fighters holed up there, news agencies reported.
"Strictly advise and assist was our role. They did an incredible job. It was entirely an Afghan operation," Major Chris Miller of the 5th U.S. Special Forces group claimed, British daily newspaper, Guardian, reported.
"Up to the last minute, we told every man to surrender. But none of them listened. These Arabs fought to the death." Miller described the battle as a "very hard gunfight".
The paper, however, went on to say that “it was clear, yesterday [Monday], that the U.S. commandos were heavily involved in the attack.
Under a storm of grenade explosions and gunfire, U.S. Special Forces and Afghan soldiers raided a hospital ward in Kandahar Monday, killing six Al-Qaeda fighters and ending a two-month siege.
An Afghan intelligence officer in Kandahar said Monday that American soldiers had taken command of the streets around the Mirwais hospital in the southern city. A fire had broken out after at least one explosion rocked the hospital building during the night, he said, AFP reported.
"I don't know the reason for the fire... we only heard one explosion last night and since then we haven't heard any shooting or explosions," said Nasratullah Nasrat, a provincial intelligence officer in Kandahar.
"The Americans have blockaded the area and they're not letting anybody get close."
He said he did not know if U.S. troops were inside the building but CNN television reported Monday that U.S. troops had raided the hospital and shots and explosions were heard.
The six dead men, believed to be Arabs, took shelter in the Mirwais hospital early December, barricading themselves in with beds and mattresses when Taliban fled their final stronghold. They had promised to kill themselves rather than be captured.
Just before dawn Monday, Afghan commanders ordered the men to surrender their weapons. They refused and minutes later, U.S. and Afghan soldiers hurled a volley of grenades into the building. As they were preparing to do so, the Arab fighters fired at them with automatic weapons, Guardian reported Tuesday.
"The Arabs saw them, and they started firing," said Najibullah, an Afghan commander involved in the raid. He said the gunmen also hurled grenades back at the attacking troops.
For several hours, U.S. commandos, wearing "I Love New York" badges on their black army uniforms and New York Yankees' baseball caps, had taken up positions around the hospital, preparing to storm the building, the paper added. The heavily armed soldiers carried satellite phones on their backs with antennae dangling over their heads.
They hid inside the walled compound and crawled along the ledge of the second-floor ward where the six Al-Qaeda men were barricaded in, using cupboards and beds. Onlookers were pushed back and the surrounding streets cordoned off, according to the British newspaper’s report.
After the midday call to prayer at the city's mosques, an American commando shouted "Stand clear" and more than 20 grenades were thrown into the ward.
The soldiers stormed the building firing long bursts from automatic weapons.
Within minutes the hospital ward was strewn with the bodies of the gunmen, according to Lali Saliki, one of the Afghan commanders involved in the attack.
He said the last gunman alive had tried to reach for a weapon when Saliki shot him. "He was starting to shoot us," he said, reported Guardian. Three of the men died from the grenade blasts, the others were shot dead.
A doctor working in the emergency ward of the hospital said he saw bodies that were partially burned, presumably by grenades. "Their legs, hands, abdomen were burnt on one side," Mohammed Musa said. "Two bodies were in the corridor, two under a table in their ward and two in another room."
"Six Arabs are dead. We gave them an ultimatum. They would not talk, they would not negotiate. They were fighting to the last moment of their lives," said Khalid Pashtoon, a spokesman for the governor of Kandahar, Gul Agha Sherzai. Five Afghan soldiers were injured, one seriously, he said.
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