On March 10, 2012, just weeks after the Qur’an-burning controversy, a 38-year-old United States Army staff sergeant from Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state walked off a coalition outpost in the Panjwai district of Afghanistan’s Kandahar province, broke into three homes, and killed and wounded numerous people. Among the casualties were 16 Afghan civilians, including 9 children. Some Americans cite battlefield stress as a possible cause for the incident. Afghan civilian deaths continue to increase yearly. The Taliban responded by saying:
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The soldier covered some of the people with rugs and lit their bodies on fire, and then walked back toward the outpost, where he was apprehended by an American patrol. President Barack Obama contacted Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai to apologize. In a statement, Karzai said “This is an assassination, an intentional killing of innocent civilians and cannot be forgiven.”
Sources:
American Soldier Kills Sixteen Afghan Civilians, Motive Still Unknown
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