Report: Afghan Reporter’s Death Was Accidental

WASHINGTON, Sept. 9, 2011 — The Inter­na­tion­al Secu­ri­ty Assis­tance Force has released the find­ings of a U.S. Army report of the inves­ti­ga­tion into the death of an Afghan reporter who was killed dur­ing an insur­gent attack in Afghanistan’s Uruz­gan province, mil­i­tary offi­cials said.

The inves­ti­ga­tion deter­mined that Ahmad Omid Khpal­wak was killed in a case of mis­tak­en iden­ti­ty dur­ing a July 28 fire­fight in the city of Tarin Kowt. Khpal­wak report­ed for the BBC and Pajh­wok Afghan News, Afghanistan’s largest inde­pen­dent news ser­vice, with head­quar­ters in Kabul. 

Marine Corps Gen. John R. Allen, ISAF’s com­man­der, appoint­ed an inde­pen­dent inves­ti­gat­ing offi­cer to exam­ine the cir­cum­stances that led to Khpalwak’s death.
The report deter­mined that Khpal­wak was shot by an ISAF mem­ber who believed he was an insur­gent that posed a threat and was about to det­o­nate a sui­cide vest. 

The inves­ti­gat­ing offi­cer found that the ISAF mem­ber com­plied with the laws of armed con­flict and rules of engage­ment and act­ed rea­son­ably under the circumstances. 

ISAF extends its con­do­lences to Khpalwak’s fam­i­ly, offi­cials said. The unclas­si­fied exec­u­tive sum­ma­ry from the AR 15–6 inves­ti­ga­tion can be read at:
http://www.isaf.nato.int/article/isaf-releases/ISAF-releases-findings-of-Army-Regulation-15–6‑report-on-death-of-khpalwak.html .

In oth­er Afghanistan news yesterday: 

– A com­bined Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty force killed two insur­gents while con­duct­ing a secu­ri­ty oper­a­tion in the Charkh dis­trict of Log­ar province. The tar­get of the oper­a­tion was a Tal­iban leader respon­si­ble for attacks against coali­tion forces in the area. One sus­pect was detained, and var­i­ous weapons were confiscated. 

– A com­bined force killed two insur­gents while search­ing for a Tal­iban leader in the Shirin Tagab dis­trict of Faryab province. The leader trans­ports sup­plies and weapons used in attacks against Afghan secu­ri­ty forces. 

– In the Nawah-ye Barakzai dis­trict of Hel­mand province, a com­bined force detained numer­ous insur­gents while search­ing for a Tal­iban leader respon­si­ble for attacks against coali­tion forces. 

– A com­bined force detained a Haqqani net­work leader and sev­er­al sus­pects dur­ing an oper­a­tion in the Man­duzai dis­trict of Khost province. The leader sup­plies weapons to the insurgency. 

– In the Ghazni dis­trict of Ghazni province, a com­bined force detained one sus­pect while search­ing for a Tal­iban leader respon­si­ble for road­side bomb attacks in the region. 

– A com­bined force dis­cov­ered a weapons and IED-mak­ing cache dur­ing an oper­a­tion in the Saro­bi dis­trict of Kab­ul province. The cache con­tained recoil­less rifle ammu­ni­tion, 36 rock­ets, and 80 mor­tar rounds. A local civil­ian also turned over an IED found in the area. 

– Com­bined forces killed two insur­gents, detained 11 sus­pects and con­fis­cat­ed a weapons cache con­tain­ing one 82mm mor­tar round and 16 pounds of explo­sives as part of sep­a­rate oper­a­tions con­duct­ed across Region­al Com­mand East. 

Source:
Com­piled from Inter­na­tion­al Secu­ri­ty Assis­tance Force Joint Com­mand News Releases