US troops murdered 3 Afghans for sport: Report

Five US soldiers in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province have been charged with murdering three Afghan civilians, The Washington Post reported on Sunday.

The Post cited military court documents and interviews with people familiar with the case to allege the killings “were committed essentially for sport by soldiers who had a fondness for hashish and alcohol.”

The army has scheduled pre-trial hearings in the case this fall.

The five members of the platoon accused of murder began talking about creating a “kill team” in December 2009 and murdered their first victim on January 15, The Post said.

According to charging documents, the first unprovoked, fatal attack was the start of a months-long shooting spree against Afghan civilians that resulted in some of the grisliest allegations against American soldiers since the US invasion in 2001. Members of the platoon have been charged with dismembering and photographing corpses, as well as hoarding a skull and other human bones.

The subsequent investigation has raised accusations about whether the military ignored warnings that the out-of-control soldiers were committing atrocities. The father of one soldier said he repeatedly tried to alert the Army after his son told him about the first killing, only to be rebuffed.

Military documents allege that five members of the unit staged a total of three murders in Kandahar province between January and May. Seven other soldiers have been charged with crimes related to the case, including hashish use, attempts to impede the investigation and a retaliatory gang assault on a private who blew the whistle.

Army officials have not disclosed a motive for the killings and macabre behaviour. Nor have they explained how the attacks could have persisted without attracting scrutiny. They declined to comment on the case beyond the charges that have been filed, citing the ongoing investigation.

The accused soldiers, through attorneys and family members, deny wrongdoing. But the case has already been marked by a cycle of accusations and counter-accusations among the defendants as they seek to pin the blame on each other, according to documents and interviews.

The soldier, whom some defendants have described as the ringleader, is said to have confided to his mates that it had been easy for him to get away with “stuff” when he served in Iraq in 2004, according to the statements. It was his second tour in Afghanistan, having served there from January 2006 until May 2007.

On February 22, another Afghan civilian was killed by rifle fire near Forward Operating Base Ramrod in Kandahar province, where the platoon was stationed. The Army has released few details about the slaying but has charged three personnel with murder.

One among them has also been charged with possessing “a skull taken from an Afghan person’s corpse.”

The accused soldiers are alleged to have found their next victim on May 2, documents show.

Military police caught wind of the final killing a few days later, but only by happenstance. Records show they were coincidentally investigating reports of hashish use by members of the platoon.

After word leaked that one soldier had spoken to military police, several platoon members retaliated, records show. They confronted the informant and beat him severely.

However, the informant talked to the MPs again and told them what he had heard.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 20^th, 2010.