Afghan villagers in Kandahar were told 'they would pay' before massacre occurred killing 16

Afghan villagers told they would pay for bomb days ahead of massacre of 16
The Australian/AP
AP March 21, 2012 8:48AM

Panjwai district tribal elder Ghulam Rasool is convinced that the  

killing of 16 villagers in Afghanistan were an act of revenge 

for a roadside bomb attack on American forces in the same 

area a few days before. Source: AP 

RESIDENTS of an Afghan village near where an American soldier is alleged to have killed 16 civilians are convinced that the slayings were in retaliation for a roadside bomb attack on US forces in the same area a few days earlier.

In accounts to The Associated Press and to Afghan government officials, the residents allege that US troops lined up men from the village of Mokhoyan against a wall after the bombing on either March 7 or 8, and told them they would pay a price for the attack.

The lawyer for Army Staff Sergeant Robert Bales, who is accused in the March 11 killings of the 16 civilians, has said that his client was upset because a buddy had lost a leg in an explosion on March 9.

It's unclear if the bombing cited by lawyer John Henry Browne was the same as the one described by the villagers that prompted the alleged threats. After a meeting at a military prison in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, Mr Browne said Sgt Bales told him a roadside bomb blew off the leg of one of his friends two days before the shootings occurred.

A spokesman for the US military declined to give any information on the bombing or even confirm that it occurred, citing the investigation of the shootings. He also declined to comment on the allegation that US troops threatened retaliation.

...Mr Karzai's investigative team is not convinced that one soldier could have single-handedly left his base, walked to the two villages, and carried out the killings and set fire to some of the victims' bodies. The US military has said that even though its investigation is continuing, everything currently points to one shooter...

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Read "The Kandahar Massacre" by MA Niazi, The Nation