WASHINGTON, Sept. 21 (UPI) -- The U.S. military has opened a criminal investigation into allegations its members engaged in the torture and murder of eight Afghan soldiers.
The previously undisclosed death occurred in March 2003 after the eight soldiers were arrested at a remote U.S. base, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday.
The dead soldier, identified as Jamal Naseer, was severely beaten over a span of at least two weeks, a report prepared for the Afghan attorney general said.
Alleged mistreatment of the detainees included repeated beatings, immersion in cold water, electric shocks, being hung upside down and toenails being torn off, according to Afghan investigators and an internal memorandum prepared by a United Nations delegation that interviewed the surviving soldiers.
The eight-man Afghan army unit was taken prisoner as part of a campaign by U.S. forces and the local governor to bring Paktia province in southeastern Afghanistan under the control of the central government.
