By ,
Published January 13, 2015
The bodies of 10 children and dozens of adults covered in blankets and shrouds appear in videos obtained by The Associated Press, corroborating Afghan and U.N. allegations that a U.S.-led raid last month killed more than 90 civilians.
The videos — apparently taken by cell phones — depict numerous bodies lying side-by-side on a mosque floor in the western village of Azizabad, where an Afghan government commission and U.N. report said approximately 90 civilians, including 60 children and 15 women, were killed. One boy can be seen curled in fetal position; one child had half its head blown off.
There appears to be several dozen bodies lying on the mosque floor, the Associated Press reported, though a precise count was difficult due to the poor quality of the images. The videos do not provide proof that 60 children died in the operation, but the images do appear to contradict a U.S. military investigation that found only seven civilians were killed in Azizabad, along with up to 35 militants.
The U.S. said Sunday it would reopen the investigation because of emerging new evidence. On Monday, a Pentagon spokesman said new "imagery evidence" came to the attention over the weekend of Gen. David D. McKiernan, the American commander of the NATO-led force here.
"There is some evidence that suggests that the evidence that the U.S. military used in ... its investigation may not have been complete," Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said.
Meanwhile, FOXNews' Oliver North, who was embedded with troops in the U.S.-led operation, did not see any non-combatants killed, according to his blog and exclusive video.
While accompanying the U.S. Special Forces conducting the Aug. 22 operation, North and FOXNews Cameraman Chris Jackson witnessed the entire operation.
"I saw dead combatants, and they were wearing bandoliers and AK-47s," Jackson said. "I saw an Afghan woman and her child — they were wounded and they were being given medical aid at the scene and then taken to the Special Force hospital, where they received treatment."
In his blog on Aug. 29, North wrote: "Though only about 15 new graves were evident in nearby cemeteries — and no local civilians had sought medical treatment for wounds — the number of noncombatant casualties allegedly inflicted in the raid continued to rise."
Jackson continued, "I've worked in warzones and disaster areas for a long time … so I'm used to seeing large numbers of dead people. I did not see this in Azizabad. I went through the rubble, I went through the buildings, the main objectives, and what I saw is primarily enemy combatants killed. What I saw matched the number of the U.S. Army figure of how many people were killed … I find it very hard to believe that there were that large number of civilians that were killed on the scene and I missed it."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
https://www.foxnews.com/story/videos-showing-bodies-of-afghan-children-support-claim-that-u-s-led-raid-killed-civilians