| Raid on Khataba | |
|---|---|
| Part of the War in Afghanistan | |
| Type | Raid |
| Location | Khataba village, Paktia Province, Afghanistan 33°36′00″N 69°13′01″E / 33.60000°N 69.21694°E |
| Date | 12 February 2010 4:00 a.m. (UTC+04:30) |
| Executed by | 75th Ranger Regiment |
| Casualties | 5 killed |
  Khataba Location of Khataba within Afghanistan | |
The Raid on Khataba, also referred to as the raid on Gardez, was an incident in the War in Afghanistan in which five civilians, including two pregnant women and a teenage girl, were killed by U.S. forces on February 12, 2010.[1][2] All were shot when U.S. Army Rangers[3] raided a house in Khataba village, outside the city of Gardez, where dozens of people had gathered earlier to celebrate the naming of a newborn baby.[4][5] Initially, U.S. Military officials implied the three women were killed before the raid by family members, reporting that the women had been found "tied up, gagged and killed."[6] But investigators sent by the Afghan government reported, based on interviews and pictures of the scene, that the special operation forces removed bullets from the victims' bodies and cleaned their wounds as part of an attempted coverup.[7] NATO denied this allegation, and Afghan investigator Merza Mohammed Yarmand stated, "We can not confirm it as we had not been able to autopsy the bodies."[6] The US military later admitted that the special operations unit killed the three women during the raid.[8]
- ^ Cavendish, Julius (April 9, 2010). "US Special Forces apologise for botched night raid". The Independent. London.
- ^ Starkey, Jerome (March 15, 2010). "Survivors of family killed in Afghanistan raid threaten suicide attacks". The Times. London. Archived from the original on July 15, 2011.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) (login required; ) - ^ Naylor, Sean. Relentless Strike. St. Martin's Press. New York, NY. 2015. page 369. ISBN 978-1250014542
- ^ Starkey, Jerome (April 5, 2010). "US special forces tried to coverup botched Khataba raid in Afghanistan". The Times. London. Archived from the original on May 31, 2010.
- ^ The Nation (April 5, 2010) "After denials, US admits Feb. killing of Afghan women"
- ^ a b Oppel, Richard A.; Abdul Waheed Wafa (2010-04-05). "Afghan Investigators Say U.S. Troops Tried to Cover Up Evidence in Botched Raid". The New York Times. Retrieved 2011-09-02.
- ^ AllGov.com (April 6, 2010) "NATO Admits U.S. Forces Killed Innocent Pregnant Women in Afghanistan"
- ^ Tucker Reals (April 5, 2010). "Afghans: U.S. Troops "Covered-Up" Civilian Deaths". CBS News.