U.S. Troops
Covered Up Evidence of Afghan Wedding Attack: U.N.
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U.S.
forces “cleaned the area”, removing evidence of “shrapnel,
bullets and traces of blood”
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LONDON,
July 29 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – U.S. forces in
Afghanistan arrived at the scene of a fatal bombing raid on a wedding
party just after the tragedy and removed vital evidence, according to
a U.N. report quoted by U.K. daily newspaper The Times, Monday,
July 29.
The
U.N. investigators also found no weapons and “no corroboration” of
the U.S. claim that the aircraft that had fired on the party had been
targeted from the ground, the daily said.
If
the findings are upheld by a second, more detailed, U.N.
investigation, they will cause huge embarrassment to the Pentagon, The
Times reported.
U.N.
sources said that the findings pointed to an American cover-up, and
suggested that American investigators were dragging their feet hoping
that the issue would pass.
More
than 50 civilians, including 25 members of one family, were killed and
117 wounded when U.S. warplanes bombed the wedding party in Uruzgan
province on the night of June 30, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
The
United States has insisted that coalition aircraft had attacked only
after they were fired on.
The
U.N. preliminary report noted “discrepancies in U.S. accounts of
what happened,” The Times said.
The
report said that there was clear evidence that human rights violations
had taken place and that coalition forces had arrived on the scene
very quickly after the air strikes and “cleaned the area”,
removing evidence of “shrapnel, bullets and traces of blood”, The
Times said. It said women there had their hands tied behind their
backs.
It
called for “an in-depth investigation (to) be carried out to ensure
that such tragedies are not repeated; and that the protection of
civilian lives becomes a primary concern in the fight against
terrorism in Afghanistan”.
The
wedding party raid was not the first U.S. air strike to kill Afghan
civilians and it both angered President Karzai and has fuelled
anti-American sentiment in the country.
Pentagon
officials have said that cameras fixed to the AC-130’s gun turrets
showed gunfire coming from the ground, but the Pentagon has not
released the film, as it has on previous occasions, preventing
independent analysis of whether it was anti-aircraft artillery or
celebratory rifle fire, The Times reported.
The
Pentagon declined to comment on the U.N. report, but said all matters
arising from the incident were under consideration by U.S. Central
Command and that charges against the servicemen involved had not been
ruled out.
U.N.
sources quoted by the Times said the report was prepared by
“experienced and reputable U.N. people, who have been in the region
a while and know it well.”
A
joint U.S.-Afghan team is investigating the strike, but nothing has
been disclosed and no timescale has been given on when the findings
will be made public.
One
U.N. official put it: “The more it drags on, the harder it is to
prove and probably the people investigating want it to go slowly and
die away.”
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