Human Rights Commission Reports US Marines Opened Fire On Afghan Civilians

The New York Times CARLOTTA GALL April 14, 2007 01:33 PM

American marines reacted to a bomb ambush with excessive force in eastern Afghanistan last month, hitting groups of bystanders and vehicles with machine-gun fire in a rampage that covered 10 miles of highway and left 12 civilians dead, including an infant and three elderly men, according to a report published by an Afghan human rights commission on Saturday.

Families of the victims said this week that they had demanded justice from the American military and the Afghan government, and they described the aftermath of the marines' shooting, in Nangarhar Province. One 16-year-old newly married girl was cut down while she was carrying a bundle of grass to her family's farmhouse. A 75-year-old man walking to his shop was hit by so many bullets that his son did not recognize the body when he came to the scene.

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