‘He just started shooting me’ witnesses reveal details of Kandahar massacre
“We are children! We are children!” was one victim’s last phrase before being killed in a shooting spree as American Staff Sergeant Robert Bales left sixteen Afghan civilians dead, according to witness testimonies.Seven Afghan witnesses from the Kandahar province testified over a live video link to the judge at a Washington State military courtroom. They recalled chilling details of the rampage, which claimed the lives of nine children and seven adults at two Afghan villages on March 11, 2012.The witnesses recounted the identities of those who lived in the villages, listing those killed. The victims’ bodies were buried quickly under Islamic tradition, and no forensic evidence was available to show the number killed.The youngest witness was a thirteen-year-old Sadiquallah. He described being awakened by loud screams that an American had “killed our men.” He then went to hide in a storage room with another boy, ditching behind the curtain. A bullet ricocheted off his head, fracturing his skull.“I was hiding behind the curtains. A bullet hit me,” Sadiquallah told the court. He also said the killer had a gun and a light, but he could not identify the man.His friend was shot in the thighm and also survived. He is to testify later.Quadratullah, Sadiquallah’s older brother, meanwhile, was hiding with other children in a different part of the house. When the killer found them, the kids yelled “We are children! We are children!” Quadratullah testified.Haji Mohammed Naim, the boys’ father, was the first person shot at their residence. He told the court that he was woken up by dogs barking and shots being fired, after which he saw the shooter climb over a compound wall.“He just started shooting me,” Naim said.Faizullah, one of the eldest sons, told the judge that he was awoken by someone telling him about shooting at his father’s compound. As he rushed to the residence, he found his father with a gunshot wound to the throat. One of Naim’s daughters was also wounded, as were two neighboring siblings.All five wounded survived, after being treated at a nearby base and then flown to a military hospital in Kandahar Read more…