The Nangar Khel incident, sometimes called the Nangar Khel massacre, took place in the
Afghan village of
Nangar Khel (
Paktika Province
Paktika (Pashto/Dari: ) is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the eastern part of the country. Forming part of the larger Loya Paktia region, Paktika has a population of about 789,000, mostly ethnic Pashtuns. The town of Sharan ...
) on August 16, 2007. A few hours after an insurgent
IED ambush which damaged Polish wheeled armored vehicle (
KTO Rosomak
The KTO Rosomak (Kołowy Transporter Opancerzony Rosomak) (pol. wheeled armored personnel carrier Wolverine) is an 8×8 multi-role military vehicle produced by Rosomak S.A. (formerly Wojskowe Zakłady Mechaniczne) in Siemianowice Śląskie (Up ...
), a patrol of
Polish soldiers
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent
* Polish chicken
*Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...
from the elite 18th Airborne-Assault Battalion taking part in the
International Security Assistance Force
' ps, کمک او همکاري '
, allies = Afghanistan
, opponents = Taliban Al-Qaeda
, commander1 =
, commander1_label = Commander
, commander2 =
, commander2_label =
, commander3 =
, command ...
opened
heavy machine gun
A heavy machine gun (HMG) is significantly larger than light, medium or general-purpose machine guns. HMGs are typically too heavy to be man-portable (carried by one person) and require mounting onto a weapons platform to be operably stable or ...
and 60 mm
mortar fire at the area of the village. The attack resulted in the deaths of six civilians, including a pregnant woman and three children, and seriously injured three other women.
Incident
According to the military report D9 161030z of the
Afghan War Diary, the patrol fired 26 mortar rounds, of which three landed in a compound where a wedding celebration was taking place.
The villagers stated that there was no shooting coming from the village when the mortars were fired there,
while the Polish soldiers stated that they had fired a machine gun at four people near the village, who in turn fired back.
The villagers stated that the Polish soldiers should have come to the village to ask for information regarding Taliban fighters planting of
IEDs, since the villagers were opposed to Talibs' operations near their village.
That evening and the following day, the Provincial Reconstruction Team and Polish soldiers planned "consequence management", including contact with the villagers, gifts of food and supplies, the purchase of a goat for the villagers as a goodwill gesture, and regular visits to the village in order to build "trust and rapport with the villagers".
Families of the victims were later paid compensation, while the injured Afghans were flown to be treated for their wounds in a hospital in Poland.
In result of the action eight innocent civilians including a pregnant women and children were killed. Aleksander Szczyglo - Defense Minister in 2008 - tried to avoid giving an answer to a journalist when he was asked about incident and called accused soldiers a "group of idiots who shot at civilians."
Trial
On July 6, 2008, prosecutors ended the investigation and sent an
indictment
An indictment ( ) is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that use the concept of felonies, the most serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that do not use the felonies concept often use that of a ...
against seven soldiers of the Charlie combat team (two officers, two non-commissioned officers and three privates) to
Warsaw
Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...
's Military District Court, accusing them of committing a
war crime of unlawfully targeting civilians in a reprisal. Captain Olgierd C. and his men all said they were innocent. Six of them (accused of killing civilians), if found guilty, would face a penalty of 12 to 25 years in prison to even life imprisonment, while another one (accused of opening fire on an unarmed target) faced up to 25 years in prison. According to a spokesperson for the Court, "It's a unique trial, not only in Poland but also in Europe or even in the world." Nevertheless, the case was given little attention in foreign media.
The trial began in February 2009. In May, Polish Minister of Defense
Bogdan Klich
Bogdan Adam Klich (born on 8 May 1960 in Kraków) is a former Minister of National Defence of Poland. Son to Adam Klich. Bogdan Klich was interned in 1981 during the martial law set by the communist regime. Until November 16, 2007, he was a ...
gave testimony in which he called the incident "a mistake", citing the opinion of the commander of the
U.S.
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
forces in the area. The soldiers have also gained support from many military officers and celebrities, including General
Sławomir Petelicki, the founder and first commander of the Polish special forces unit
GROM
Grom may refer to:
Military
* JW GROM, a Polish special forces unit
* ORP ''Grom'', several ships of the Polish Navy
* Grom (missile), a Polish anti-aircraft missile
* A Yugoslav/Serbian version of the Kh-23 (AS-9 'Kyle') air-to-surface missi ...
. On June 1, 2011, the Warsaw District Court acquitted all seven soldiers for lack of evidence of deliberate killing. The court described the case as unprecedented in the history of the Polish military and judiciary. The prosecution has the right of appeal against the verdict.
Re-trial
Poland's
highest court
A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
opened a new trial for seven Polish soldiers in 2012. Prosecutors said that they are convinced that war crimes were committed. The first ruling "should not stand," prosecutor Jan Zak said. The case resulted in the acquittal of Captain O. C., the highest of rank among the defendants who issued the original military order.
[ICRC Casebook. https://casebook.icrc.org/case-study/poland-supreme-court-nangar-khel-incident-judgment-supreme-court-poland-17-february-2016] The Supreme Court also upheld the acquittals of two privates involved in the incident.
The case of remaining four soldiers was reopened by the Warsaw Military District Court. In 2015, the Court acquitted four Polish soldiers of the charges of war crimes.
The ruling was appealed both by the defense and the prosecution and the case of remaining soldiers was to be reexamined by the Supreme Court of Poland.
The cases of ppor. (lower OF-1 Nato code rank) Bywalec, chor. (OR-8 Nato code) Andrzej Osiecki, plut. rezerwy (OR-4 higher, but reserve status - "rezerwy") Tomasz Borysiewicz and Ligocki, were sent to be examined by the Supreme Court, because there were doubts about their "innocent" status.
Re-trial ended on March 19, 2015.
In February 2016 the Military Chamber of the Supreme Court in Warsaw (Poland) stated that the remaining three soldiers did not commit a war crime, but were found to have negligently carried out orders, which is an offence under Polish law. The ruling upheld the decision of a military court from March 2015. Three Polish soldiers were given suspended jail sentences, while the case of one was conditionally discontinued.
See also
*
Deh Bala wedding party bombing
The Haska Meyna wedding party airstrike was an attack by United States military forces on 6 July 2008, in which 47 Afghans were killed. The group was escorting a bride to a wedding ceremony in the groom's village in Haska Meyna District of Nang ...
References
External links
Polish troops killed Afghan civilians-ministry Reuters
Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world.
The agency was esta ...
, 22 August 2007
Polish NATO troops charged with murdering Afghan civilians AFP, November 14, 2007
An Afghanistan War-Crimes Case Tests Poland’s Commitment to Foreign Missions ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'', November 29, 2007
NATO: Poland to deal with war crimes UPI
United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th c ...
, December 5, 2007
Polish Troops Face War Crimes Charges Military.com, December 28, 2007
Nangar Khel: Inspecting the Scene ''
Gazeta Wyborcza
''Gazeta Wyborcza'' (; ''The Electoral Gazette'' in English) is a Polish daily newspaper based in Warsaw, Poland. It is the first Polish daily newspaper after the era of " real socialism" and one of Poland's newspapers of record, covering the ...
'', 2008-07-15
Nangar Khel - a Reconstruction ''
Gazeta Wyborcza
''Gazeta Wyborcza'' (; ''The Electoral Gazette'' in English) is a Polish daily newspaper based in Warsaw, Poland. It is the first Polish daily newspaper after the era of " real socialism" and one of Poland's newspapers of record, covering the ...
'', 2008-07-28
Court Criticizes Nangar Khel Probe Warsaw Voice
''Warsaw Voice: Polish and Central European Review'' (shortly ''The Warsaw Voice'') is an English-language newspaper printed in Poland, concentrating on news about Poland and its neighbours. First released in October 1988, it is a general news ma ...
, 22 October 2008
Nangar Khel Comes Up ''
Gazeta Wyborcza
''Gazeta Wyborcza'' (; ''The Electoral Gazette'' in English) is a Polish daily newspaper based in Warsaw, Poland. It is the first Polish daily newspaper after the era of " real socialism" and one of Poland's newspapers of record, covering the ...
'', 2009-02-03
, 2016-02-22
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nangar Khel Incident
2007 in Afghanistan
2007 in Poland
Military history of Poland
War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)
Civilian casualties in the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)
Massacres in Afghanistan
August 2007 events in Asia
Polish war crimes
Massacres in 2007
August 2007 crimes