The Australian military on Monday cleared its soldiers over the deaths of two women and a baby during a battle in Afghanistan but said all civilian casualties were “highly regrettable”.
An internal inquiry had found no wrongdoing on the part of the Australian soldiers involved in the fighting in southern Uruzgan province last November, Lieutenant General Ken Gillespie told a news conference. The operation cost the life of an Australian soldier who died from a single gunshot to the head in what the inquiry determined was straightforward combat. “Three civilians, two females and an infant child, were killed during the operation,” Gillespie said. “It has since been revealed that one of the deceased females was positively identified firing an AK-47 assault rifle at our forces during the engagement and was therefore re-categorised as an enemy combatant.” Gillespie said the baby was in one of the rooms from which the woman and two men were firing on Australian troops. “That said, the death of civilians and non-combatants during any conflict is highly regrettable,” he said. |