US orders new review into Afghan civilian deaths

KABUL, Afghanistan -- The US military says it has new information about an American attack that Afghanistan says killed 90 civilians, and is sending a senior military officer to the country to review its initial conclusion that no more than seven civilians died.
The US military, in its announcement Sunday, did not say what new information had emerged. But Afghan and Western officials say Afghanistan's intelligence agency and the United Nations both have videos of the aftermath of the airstrikes on Azizabad village showing dozens of dead women and children.
An Afghan government commission has said 90 civilians, including 60 children and 15 women, died in the August 22 bombings, a finding that the U.N. backed in its own initial report.

But a US investigation released Tuesday said only up to seven civilians and 35 militants were killed in the operation in the western province of Herat.

A U.N. official who has seen one video of Azizabad told The Associated Press it shows maimed children. The official became highly emotional describing rows of bodies.

A second Western official has said one video shows bodies of "tens of children" lined up. He called the video "gruesome." The two officials spoke on condition they not be identified because the videos had not been publicly released.

Although the United States said Tuesday its investigation was complete, the military at that time appeared to leave open the possibility that photographs or video of the scene could emerge. American officials said privately last week that they were aware photographic evidence apparently existed, but that they did not have access to it.

"No other evidence that may have been collected by other organizations was provided to the US investigating officer and therefore could not be considered in the findings," the initial US report said.

On Sunday, Gen. David McKiernan, the senior US officer in Afghanistan and the commander of the 40-nation NATO-led mission, requested that an American general travel from US Central Command in Florida to Afghanistan to review the US investigation.

That announcement followed by one day a statement attributed to McKiernan on Azizabad that said: "We realize there is a large discrepancy between the number of civilians casualties reported" and McKiernan would continue to "try to account for this disparity."

The New York Times reported on its Web site Sunday that one of its reporters had seen cell phone video in Azizabad of at least 11 dead children among some 30 to 40 bodies laid out in the village mosque. The Times also said Azizabad had 42 freshly dug graves, including 13 so small they could hold only children.