Islam Times - Afghans still mourn for victims of US forces' attack in Kandahar

Islam Times - The relatives of the victims of a March 11 carnage carried out by US forces in Afghanistan’s southern province of Kandahar are still mourning the loss of their loved ones.

Western media introduced only one American trooper, US Army Staff Sergeant Robert Bales, as the main culprit of the murderous attack in which 17 civilians, mostly women and children, were killed in a village in Kandahar’s Panjwaii district.

Nevertheless, according to a fact-finding mission set up by the Afghan parliament, at least 20 US soldiers were involved in the massacre of the Afghan civilians.

The head of the mission said on March 14 that after investigating the circumstances and speaking to witnesses and locals, it was concluded that the crime could not have been committed by a single soldier.

Mullah Baran, an Afghan civilian whose brother was killed and then burned in the incident, said the massacre was carried out by more than one US soldier.

“Other US forces were guarding outside our homes during the shooting,” he said, as tears welled up in his eyes.

“These foreign troops are not here to protect us against the militants; they are just here to kill us,” said Saeed Jan, who lost his wife, brother, cousin and a newly-born grandson in the attack.

He said that Bales kept hitting his wife’s head against the wall until she died, and shot his grandson in the chest.

Abdul Baqi, whose three children were wounded during the slaughter, believes that the US is his country’s number one enemy.

“Foreign troops continue to attack villagers here. They drag villagers out of their homes during their night raids and then open fire on them. We did not experience such brutality even when our country was invaded by the Soviet troops,” he noted.