Inquiry shows U.S.-Afghan raid killed 30 people: report

People hold belongings as they stand in front of a house whom the Afghan government said was bombed by the U.S.-led coalition forces on Friday in Azizabad district of Shindand, in Afghanistan, on 23 August 2008.

8 October 2008

WASHINGTON- An inquiry by the U.S. military has concluded that U.S. air strikes on an Afghan village in August killed more than 30 civilians, far more than U.S. commanders have acknowledged, The New York Times said on Tuesday.

The August 22 air strike on Azizabad village outraged Afghans and opened up a rift between the coalition forces on the one hand and the Afghan government and the United Nations on the other, which both said more than 90 civilians were killed.

An Afghan policeman is seen inside a destroyed house whom the Afghan government said was bombed by U.S.-led coalition forces on Friday in Azizabad district of Shindand, in Afghanistan;on 23 August 2008.

In the days after the raid, the U.S. military said the strike had killed 30 to 35 militants but it planned to reopen its investigation after cell phone video emerged showing bodies of people said to have been killed in the strike.

"The military investigator's report found that more than 30 civilians -- not five to seven as the military has long insisted -- died in the airstrikes against a suspected Taliban compound in Azizabad," The New York Times said.

It cited two U.S. military officials, whom it did not identify, for the report.

"According to the new report, fewer than 20 militants died in the raid, which was conducted jointly by American and Afghan forces, and in subsequent airstrikes carried out by an AC-130 gunship in support of the allied ground forces," the Times said.

The U.S. Central Command, which oversees military operations in Afghanistan, had no comment on the article.

"The investigation is not complete. It hasn't been signed off on by the command, therefore we have nothing we can speak to until it's complete and ready for release," said spokesman Maj. Joe Kloppel.

Kloppel said the investigation would be finished soon but did not have a specific date.