Wednesday, 6 April 2011

Afghanistan War Logs - Civilian Victims of UK Troops


From the Guardian. Full details HERE.
The US army's archives contain descriptions of at least 21 separate occasions in which British troops are said to have shot or bombed Afghan civilians, including women and children.
The logs identify at least 26 people killed and another 20 wounded as a result. Some casualties were accidentally caused by air strikes, but many also are said to involve British troops firing on unarmed drivers or motorcyclists who come "too close" to convoys or patrols. Their injuries result from what are described as "warning shots" or "disabling shots" fired into the engine block, as required by the military's "escalation of force" regulations.
The number of dead and wounded alleged to have been caused by the British include 16 children, at least three women and a mentally ill man. The number is a small fraction of the 369 civilian casualties listed in the logs as due to coalition – mostly US – action in total.

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