This is a story about a night raid in Gardez, Afghanistan by NATO forces (U.S. and Afghan forces) and yesterday (April 04) those forces made a major admission about their responsibility for civilian deaths. Their attempted cover up shown from a report indicated that the Afghan women were kill due to knife/stabbing injuries. This was reported in a post "U.S. Is Reining In Special Operations Forces in Afghanistan" on March 15, 2010. Then on April 04, 2010, a post "Gardez Investigation Concludes" that the women were killed from gunfire.
First the women were killed by knife stabbing. Later the women were killed by bullets wounds. Please read the news excepts below.
From: U.S. Is Reining In Special Operations Forces in Afghanistan
A press release from the International Security Assistance Force, as NATO’s force here is known, said at first that the three women had been discovered bound and gagged, apparently killed execution style. NATO officials now say their bodies were wrapped in traditional manner before burial. Admiral Smith said Afghan forces fired the shots in the compound.
“The regret is that two innocent males died,” Admiral Smith said. “The women, I’m not sure anyone will ever know how they died.” He added, however, “I don’t know that there are any forensics that show bullet penetrations of the women or blood from the women.” He said they showed signs of puncture and slashing wounds from a knife, and appeared to have died several hours before the arrival of the assault force. In respect for Afghan customs, autopsies are not carried out on civilian victims, he said.
From: Gardez Investigation Concludes
KABUL, Afghanistan (Apr. 4) - A thorough joint investigation into the events that occurred in the Gardez district of Paktiya Province Feb. 12, has determined that international forces were responsible for the deaths of three women who were in the same compound where two men were killed by the joint Afghan-international patrol searching for a Taliban insurgent. The two men, who were later determined not to be insurgents, were shot and killed by the joint patrol after they showed what appeared to be hostile intent by being armed. While investigators could not conclusively determine how or when the women died, due to lack of forensic evidence, they concluded that the women were accidentally killed as a result of the joint force firing at the men.