Posted on 7-7-2002

Afghanistan Accountability

The US investigation into the latest incident in Uruzgan must be carried
out urgently and the findings must be made public, Amnesty International
said today, adding; "The US military should be taking urgent measures to
avoid repetition of similar tragedies. "The bombing of the village wedding
ceremony which killed and injured scores of civilians adds to the mounting
civilian death toll caused by the US-led coalition bombing since it began
nine months ago," Amnesty International said. "The rules of war need to be
respected."

US-led forces should take sufficient precautions to protect civilians in
selecting military objectives and means of attack. They should also desist
from an attack if it becomes apparent that the objective is not a military
one, or the attack risks being disproportionate to the military objective.
The rules of international humanitarian law require those who plan or
decide upon an attack to do everything feasible to verify that the
objectives targeted are not civilian. When it is unclear whether a target
is used for military purposes, it shall be presumed to be a civilian object.

Amnesty International is concerned about the recent increase in civilian
casualties caused by targeting errors. In several incidents during late
2001 and early 2002, Afghan villagers accused the USA of acting on
misinformation or malicious information and taking military action leading
to the deaths of civilians. Amnesty International reiterates its call for
the US authorities to investigate military attacks which have resulted in
civilian deaths and to make those findings public.

Background

According to reports from Afghanistan, 30 fatalities so far have been
reported by government officials in Kabul, while eye witnesses of the
incident have reported more than 120 either dead or injured. Hospital
reports claim many were women and children. The circumstances remain
unclear but reports state that civilian casualties were caused by B-52
bombing and AC-130 gunship fire at around 1:00am 1st July 2002, on what US
officials have described as anti-aircraft fire on a coalition
reconnaissance patrol flight. Local reports from Kabul state that these may
have been mistaken for traditional gunfire salutes at a local wedding.