Afghan commission: US troops took fire first

[unhappycamper]

Afghan commission: US troops took fire first
By Jason Straziuso - The Associated Press
Posted : Sunday Aug 31, 2008 17:18:02 EDT

KABUL, Afghanistan — An Afghan army commander said that U.S. and Afghan troops were fired on first from a village where a government investigative commission says scores of civilians were killed, according to a report released Sunday.

The chief of staff for the army’s Herat corps told the head of the government’s investigative commission that shots were fired early Aug. 22 from Azizabad at U.S. and Afghan troops. The troops had gone to the village on a raid.

But the report, released by the office of President Hamid Karzai, did not specify who fired the shots.

“When the ANA (Afghan army) and coalition troops got close to the village, firing started after the ANA unit stopped, and the coalition forces conducted the operation in the village,” the report said.

There were no “foreign or internal Taliban” among the victims, the report said.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/08/ap_afghan_investigation_083108/