Women sexually assaulted before being killed: Investigators

KABUL before killing them in the Panjwai district in southern Kandahar province a week back, a high-level Afghan probe team revealed on Sunday.

The Wolesi Jirga’s,  or lower house of Parliament, delegation investigating the Kandahar shootings by US troops said besides killing 16 civilians, the soldiers also sexually assaulted the women victims. 

On the ill-fated Sunday, US troops shot 16 civilians, including nine children and three women, and injured five others when they opened fire on houses in Zangabad village in Panjwai district. Some of the victims’ bodies were later set on fire.

The Wolesi Jirga members, jointly probing the Panjwai episode along with a government team, on Saturday presented their chilling findings to a general session of Parliament.   

MP Hamidzai Lali, representing Kandahar province, said before the gun attack, US soldiers physically manhandled the two women and later turned their weapons on helpless residents.

Shakiba Hashami, another delegation member, confirmed the vicious attack, saying about 15 to 20 American  soldiers  were involved in the killings and even helicopters were seen hovering over the area.

Quoting local residents, Hashami said ahead of the tragedy, there was a blast in the area and foreign troops had warned of revenge killings.

The parliamentarians strongly condemned the incident and demanded a public trial for the perpetrators. US officials have blamed a mentally unstable soldier for the killings and pledged to put him on trial.

Recent media reports said the suspect, in his late 30s, was transferred to Kuwait before being flown to the US where he is being interrogated.   

mrh/vp/mud