A preliminary US investigation has agreed with a report by Major General Frank H. Kearney III that a US unit did not come under fire after a suicide bombing in Afghanistan. The marines claimed to have come under small-arms fire after the bombing and reacted by indiscriminately firing into a crowd of civilians, leaving 12 dead and 35 injured.

The report states that the small-arms attack was a fabrication by the marines to justify their body count, and that “Their actions thus constitute a serious violation of international humanitarian law”. The unit used disproportionate force on civilians leaving the scene and did not distinguish between civilians and military targets. A US military spokesman defended the marines by suggesting that shortly after the incident the civilians may have been killed by incoming fire from an insurgent ambush rather than that of US troops. However, there is no evidence to back the spokesman’s claim.

According to the authors of the report, who spoke to victims, police and hospital officials as well as eyewitnesses, the marines fired indiscriminately on civilians and their vehicles as they left the scene.

Meanwhile Maj Gen Kearney said no ammunition casings had been found that might substantiate reports that the marines were fired on.

“We found … no brass that we can confirm that small-arms fire came at them,” he told the Washington Post.

“We have testimony from marines that is in conflict with unanimous testimony from civilians at the site.”

AP Journalists on the scene also claim that the US soldiers had deleted their footage, including photos and videos, showing the aftermath of the massacre.

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