Quote:
The US Marine Corps has opened a special tribunal into the deaths of Afghan civilians last March.
As many as 19 Afghan civilians were allegedly killed when marines opened fire in Nangarhar province after their convoy was attacked by a car bomb.
An Afghan inquiry said the US troops opened fire indiscriminately but the marines said they were fired on and the civilians were caught in the crossfire.
The soldiers said they came under fire after the van exploded, but an inquiry by Afghanistan's Independent Human Rights Commission cited witness reports saying the marines had fired indiscriminately at pedestrians and vehicles in six different locations along a 10 mile (16 km) stretch of road.
In a move controversial within the US military, eight marines were called back to the US and the rest of the unit was removed from Afghanistan.
Also controversially, an army commander apologised in May over the incident.
BBC NEWS | World | South Asia | US opens Afghan deaths tribunal
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Personally, I thought that the Haditha inquiry was a travesty of justice . The Iraqi version of events fitted the evidence. Now the Afghan version of events fits the evidence. Let's see if the pattern repeats itself.