Whisper
October 11th, 2007, 03:42 PM
A Canadian soldier was threatened with summary execution by enraged Afghan National Army troops after being involved in a friendly-fire shooting, military police records show.
Just after dawn on Feb. 12, 2007, a Canadian gunner on an RG-31 Nyala truck mistakenly opened fire on an Afghan Army pickup truck on a hazy desert road east of Kandahar.
An Afghan platoon commander, 23-year-old Lt. Abdul Hadi, the driver of the vehicle, was badly wounded in the arm and hand. He had missed repeated warning signs that he stop as his truck came on a broken down Canadian logistics convoy.
Within minutes of the shooting, a tense standoff developed, as the Afghans demanded the gunner be handed over to them.
From his seat in the heavily armoured truck, the Canadian who had pulled the trigger "observed one ANA soldier slide his finger across his throat, insinuating he was going to kill him," says a summary report prepared by the Canadian Forces National Investigative Service.
The report was obtained by the Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act.
The Afghan troops "immediately exited their vehicle, took up firing positions" after their light truck had been hit at least 21 times by 7.62-millimetre machine-gun fire.
Within minutes, they were reinforced by a second group of soldiers who aimed their weapons directly at Canadian troops.
"The ANA soldiers were very mad and threatened to kill them all if they didn't hand over the gunner who had fired on them," said a witness statement taken by police in the days after the incident.
"The interpreter translated that the shooting was a mistake to the ANA soldiers. The ANA replied that if Canadians didn't recognize the ANA, then the ANA wouldn't recognize the Canadians."
One of the Canadians who was part of the security cordon around the convoy's broken truck initially tried to calm the Afghans.
"One ANA soldier pointed an AK-47 directly in his face and was told by the interpreter that the ANA was going to kill him."
Another Canadian soldier walked back to the open rear hatch of the Nyala and informed those inside that "the ANA wanted the gunner dead."
The Afghans had the Canadians encircled and promised to let the rest of the convoy go as long as the shooter was handed over.
Nerves were rattled further when the assault rifle belonging to an Afghan soldier, who jumped out of a truck, accidentally discharged, almost hitting the foot of another soldier.
The standoff lasted for almost an hour, police records show, and was resolved when one of the Canadians persuaded the angry Afghans that the matter should be handled by superior officers.
The wounded officer was evacuated to a nearby Afghan army camp, then a civilian hospital and finally to the coalition medical facility at Kandahar Airfield. He made a full recovery.
Capt. Cindy Tessier, a military spokeswoman, said investigators have decided not to charge the unidentified Canadian gunner.
His comrades have defended him, saying the Afghan truck came up too fast and there was no time to inform anyone. The fact the sun was just cresting over the hill behind the pickup truck was another factor, according to witness statements.
Shootings involving Canadian troops have resulted in at least seven fatalities.
HOW FUCKING DARE THEY!!!!
We spend tens of billions of dollars stabalizing there shit hole of a country
Were building schools, hospitals, wells, housing, distributing food
were the ones training the fucking afghans!
It's Canadian tax payers that pay the shitty ANA wage DIRECTLY!
Just after dawn on Feb. 12, 2007, a Canadian gunner on an RG-31 Nyala truck mistakenly opened fire on an Afghan Army pickup truck on a hazy desert road east of Kandahar.
An Afghan platoon commander, 23-year-old Lt. Abdul Hadi, the driver of the vehicle, was badly wounded in the arm and hand. He had missed repeated warning signs that he stop as his truck came on a broken down Canadian logistics convoy.
Within minutes of the shooting, a tense standoff developed, as the Afghans demanded the gunner be handed over to them.
From his seat in the heavily armoured truck, the Canadian who had pulled the trigger "observed one ANA soldier slide his finger across his throat, insinuating he was going to kill him," says a summary report prepared by the Canadian Forces National Investigative Service.
The report was obtained by the Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act.
The Afghan troops "immediately exited their vehicle, took up firing positions" after their light truck had been hit at least 21 times by 7.62-millimetre machine-gun fire.
Within minutes, they were reinforced by a second group of soldiers who aimed their weapons directly at Canadian troops.
"The ANA soldiers were very mad and threatened to kill them all if they didn't hand over the gunner who had fired on them," said a witness statement taken by police in the days after the incident.
"The interpreter translated that the shooting was a mistake to the ANA soldiers. The ANA replied that if Canadians didn't recognize the ANA, then the ANA wouldn't recognize the Canadians."
One of the Canadians who was part of the security cordon around the convoy's broken truck initially tried to calm the Afghans.
"One ANA soldier pointed an AK-47 directly in his face and was told by the interpreter that the ANA was going to kill him."
Another Canadian soldier walked back to the open rear hatch of the Nyala and informed those inside that "the ANA wanted the gunner dead."
The Afghans had the Canadians encircled and promised to let the rest of the convoy go as long as the shooter was handed over.
Nerves were rattled further when the assault rifle belonging to an Afghan soldier, who jumped out of a truck, accidentally discharged, almost hitting the foot of another soldier.
The standoff lasted for almost an hour, police records show, and was resolved when one of the Canadians persuaded the angry Afghans that the matter should be handled by superior officers.
The wounded officer was evacuated to a nearby Afghan army camp, then a civilian hospital and finally to the coalition medical facility at Kandahar Airfield. He made a full recovery.
Capt. Cindy Tessier, a military spokeswoman, said investigators have decided not to charge the unidentified Canadian gunner.
His comrades have defended him, saying the Afghan truck came up too fast and there was no time to inform anyone. The fact the sun was just cresting over the hill behind the pickup truck was another factor, according to witness statements.
Shootings involving Canadian troops have resulted in at least seven fatalities.
HOW FUCKING DARE THEY!!!!
We spend tens of billions of dollars stabalizing there shit hole of a country
Were building schools, hospitals, wells, housing, distributing food
were the ones training the fucking afghans!
It's Canadian tax payers that pay the shitty ANA wage DIRECTLY!