Afghanistan Shootings: Witnesses Saw One Shooter, Not Many, Say Afghan Officials

In this Friday, March 16, 2012 photo, Ghulam Rasool, a tribal elder from Panjwai district of Kandahar province, gestures during a meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, unseen, at the presidential palace in Kabul. (AP Photo/Ahmad Jamshid)

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- None of the Afghans who witnessed the March 11 massacre of 16 villagers has reported personally seeing more than one shooter, despite claims that many U.S. soldiers took part in the killing, two Afghan officials said Wednesday.

Afghan villagers disputed U.S. statements that only one shooter was involved in the killings in the southern Panjwai district. Afghan investigators heard villagers claim more than a dozen Americans were involved.

The two Afghan officials told The Associated Press that accounts of many gunmen were based on hearsay.

"To my knowledge, everybody in the villages said only that somebody had told them that they had seen several foreign troops in the villagers where the shootings occurred," said Fazal Mohammad, the top government official for Panjwai district.

"But nobody personally said that they had seen a group of troops in this incident. The evidence collected from the villagers was not enough to confirm that there was more than one shooter. I personally met many different people there, but I never found a single person who personally saw a number of foreign troops."

Mohammad also said that he suspected that insurgents may have been trying to take advantage of the shooting incident.

"It is possible that some people were passing around information," he said. "It is time for Afghanistan to calm down and not let the insurgents take advantage of this case. They want foreign troops to leave such areas like this so they can hold those areas. We should be aware of their intentions and try to help the government, not the insurgents."

Sardar Mohammad Nazari, chief of police for Panjwai district, also said that he never found one person who had seen a group of foreign troops with their own eyes.

U.S. officials launched a search party after the alleged shooter, Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, went missing, and the Afghans could have confused the searchers for assailants.

Bales was taken into custody following the killings and was transferred to the U.S. military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

In Washington, the Pentagon disputed a claim by villagers that there was a roadside bombing the day before the shooting attack, wounding some soldiers, and the shooting spree was retaliation.

A Pentagon spokesman, Navy Capt. John Kirby, told reporters that U.S. officials had no indication that such a bombing happened.

He also disputed a claim by villagers that U.S. troops lined them up against a wall after the roadside bombing and told them that they would pay a price for it.

Loading Slideshow

• A mourner cries over the bodies of Afghan civilians, allegedly shot by a rogue US soldier, seen loaded into the back of a truck in Alkozai village of Panjwayi district, Kandahar province on March 11, 2012. An AFP reporter counted 16 bodies -- including women and children -- in three Afghan houses after a rogue US soldier walked out of his base and began shooting civilians early Sunday. NATO's International Security Assistance Force said it had arrested a soldier 'in connection to an incident that resulted in Afghan casualties in Kandahar province', without giving a figure for the dead or wounded. (Getty)

• Map locates Panjwai in Kandahar province, Afghanistan.

• A villager points to a spot where a family was allegedly shot in their residence by a rogue US soldier in Alkozai village of Panjwayi district, Kandahar province on March 11, 2012. (Getty)

• The bodies of Afghan civilians allegedly shot by a rogue US soldier are pictured in the back of a van in Alkozai village of Panjwayi district, Kandahar province on March 11, 2012. (Getty)

• Anar Gul gestures to the body of her grandchild, who was allegedly killed by a U.S. service member in Panjwai, Kandahar province south of Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, March. 11, 2012. (AP)

• An Afghan man sits in the back of a bus with the body of a person who was allegedly killed by a U.S. service member in Panjwai, Kandahar province south of Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, March 11, 2012. (AP)

• The bodies of an elderly Afghan man and a child are pictured in Alkozai village of Panjwayi district, Kandahar province on March 11, 2012. (Getty)

• US soldiers keep watch at the entrance of a military base near Alkozai village following the shooting of Afghan civilians allegedly committed by a rogue US soldier in Panjwayi district, Kandahar province on March 11, 2012. (Getty)

• Afghan men gather for a service ceremony at Mohammad mosque in Alokozai village of Pajwai district in Kandahar province on March 13, 2012. (Getty)

• Afghan men offer prayers during a service ceremony at Mohammad mosque in Alokozai village of Pajwai district in Kandahar province on March 13, 2012. (Getty)

• Afghan men gather for a ceremony at Mohammad mosque in Alokozai village of Pajwai district in Kandahar province on March 13, 2012. (Getty)

• An Afghan youth mourns for relatives, who were allegedly killed by a U.S. service member in Panjwai, Kandahar province south of Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, March. 11, 2012. (AP)

Comments

[ruolivert]

04:22 PM on 03/25/2012

I'm sure this has nothing to do with the US government paying almost $1 million for the lives of thoes lost during that raid.

[monty1]

11:32 PM on 03/22/2012

And so the propagandists have a deal and it's agreed to just say it was one shooter. Gee, that was close!

[slybarbara]

06:35 PM on 03/22/2012

Browne, Bale's attorney, doesn't himself have such an distinquished background himself, judging not just by his elderly "hippie" appearance to his known failure to save Ted Bundy, his client in THAT massacre's outcome (Bundy was executed) nor in the "barefoot bandit" case (conviction). Plus his carelessness about stating his doubts the Army had all the facts and that his client's view of the events he was involved in, were "hazy" in his mind, as though he weren't all there (while busily murdering 17 people). This man looks and acts like a
"loose cannon" himself, and probably is not the "cream of the crop"-lawyer-wise. Maybe he's just cheap.
Shybarbara

[gochenaur8]

11:51 AM on 03/22/2012

We do need to get out of Afganistan. It appears that Afghanistan has it's own group of republicans, spreading rumors. The United States sholud pull out of all the countries they are in, and take care of what is going on here.

[ozamiz85]

09:18 AM on 03/22/2012

Just Get OUT OF THERE! Period !

[pcs5141]

03:10 AM on 03/22/2012

I'm sure they have had some of their boys go off the deep end.We need to get out and stay out of these countrys including our money.

[freedom1947]

10:51 AM on 03/22/2012

I'm sure the body parts of you women and children might cause you to snap a little. Maybe even lose respect for John Wayne and the American rescuers, in your country.

[Matt12]

10:33 PM on 03/21/2012

The US should leave this mess immedialty!!!

[Jazzy Man]

09:08 PM on 03/21/2012

These pictures are just heartbreaking. We've done enough damage to that country to last a lifetime. We aren't making it any better. This war is just shameful.

[robertstone1robert]

08:34 PM on 03/21/2012

These villagers will say anything, depending which day of the week it is. They are sympathetic to the Taliban. They know we're fixing to leave and the Taliban are there to stay. Who would you be sympathetic to? Anyway, the more Americans they can implicate the more they get rid of, hopefully with prison sentences.

[nanotubz]

08:57 PM on 03/21/2012

Given the above story, your comment is way out there.

[robertstone1robert]

12:23 AM on 03/22/2012

Really?

[ahwhythehellnot]

10:03 AM on 03/22/2012

Except that it isn't. Where's that photo of the old Afghan woman holding the round she claims was removed from her leg after US forces shot her- which was an unfired AK round. It doesn't make 16 civilians less dead, but this isn't the first time they've made wild claims to exploit a situation.

[Revver]

09:05 PM on 03/21/2012

you know...that tactics can be used by both parties.

[robertstone1robert]

12:25 AM on 03/22/2012

They sought to implicate as many Americans as possible.

[June25]

07:30 PM on 03/21/2012

I must say that so far I am impressed with the professionalism of the Afghan officials who are working this case so far.

[marlyt51]

07:19 PM on 03/21/2012

Looks like a obvious "Stand your ground defense"!!!!!!!!

[skeptic88]

06:21 PM on 03/21/2012

This is not yet conclusive. Still to be answered is how and whether a single person would have been responsible for bringing all of the bodies together so easily before burning them. If the accused talks, he would be able to answer if he did it alone, or was
assisted, and by whom.

Regardless, this village has suffered an unconscionable loss, and one that is not isolated- it is one of many losses that the Afghan people have suffered, whether by kill squads, or drones, or "collateral damage". This is their country, not ours, and they have every right of self-defense. The Afghan people have never attacked the United States, nor is Afghanistan any longer a haven for Al Qaeda.

In fact, this war is not about Al Qaeda, or human rights or democracy. It is about valuable mineral reserves, including lithium, and a hugely valuable natural gas pipeline from Turkmenistan that had been in the planning stages for years and was in 2001 being negotiated with the Taliban (including visits by their leadership to Houston, Texas) when 9/11 occurred, and where, it should be noted, the current President Karzai had been employed by, and/or was on the board of Unocal.

America has done enough damage, and will never be able to make it right with the mindset and policies that are guiding it right now. The best thing left is to get out and finally leave these people alone.

[JacksonD]

07:11 PM on 03/21/2012

I agree.  I'd also like to know how someone who was reportedly so drunk that they went "berserk" and later had amnesia over it, were able to accomplish the whole thing.

[Stavo]

07:22 PM on 03/21/2012

You've never had to taste the sting of day in, day out, week in...week out combat....have you?

[reliant1]

08:44 PM on 03/21/2012

Reports now say he had very little to drink...as to accomplishing the whole thing alone?

Of course he could have. Look at how many were killed/wounded in Tuscon - while they were awake, standing, in daylight - and a number of them were armed with their own weapons. All done by an untrained mad man.

Afghanistan is not called the graveyard of empires for nothing...

it is time to get out.

[June25]

07:22 PM on 03/21/2012

Don't take this the wrong way but Afghans tend to be very light.Thay are fed on a very lean diet.It would be easy to drag them.

[Jessen Joseph]

06:10 PM on 03/21/2012

If there's anyone else who feels that Obama should be tried on court along with Bush II for the atrocities committed in Afghanistan, give me a high five.

[Jt John]

06:43 PM on 03/21/2012

What atrocities did Obama commit in Afghanistan?...

[Jessen Joseph]

10:12 PM on 03/21/2012

Go and ask that question to a mother of any random innocent "civilian casualty" thanks to the increased drone strikes under Obama.

[Marliss]

10:37 PM on 03/21/2012

Do you remember how Obama also tried to re-negotiate "our stay" in Iraq -- stay longer ... with immunity from prosecution?

[Bradley Greig Smith]

05:30 PM on 03/21/2012

Shame on all of us for not putting an end to this war sooner. If this tragedy leads to an early withdrawal at least that will be something good.

However, the report I read earlier today said that part of the negotiations to end the raids (without a warrant) was because Obama wants an agreement that we can stay until 2024. Great so our Joe's will still be there with a target on their back and then they have to get a warrant to raid a house.

Am I the only one that thinks it simply crazy to stay there at all, let alone 12 years more?

[Dan Flygare]

06:39 PM on 03/21/2012

Crazy? The US military presence in Afghanistan is not crazy, it's definitely not in the best interest of the Afghan people.
Our continued involvement is motivated by financial gain for US corporate interests. We are there to secure a pipeline route to access central Asian natural gas while bypassing Russia. Additionally there is speculation that Afghanistan may posses enormous mineral resources including gold, silver, copper and precious stones.
Cynical?