Afghan doubts massacre suspect was alone

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TACOMA, Wash., Nov. 12 (UPI) -- An Afghan police investigator said he does not believe the U.S. soldier charged with massacring 16 people in two villages could have done so by himself.

U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales is accused of killing 16 Afghan civilians in Panjwai, Kandahar, Afghanistan March 11 within a span of 3 hours.

Speaking at a preliminary hearing at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington Sunday, Maj. Khudai Dad, chief of criminal techniques for the Afghan police in the province of Kandahar, said he doubts a single person could have killed so many people in such a wide area in the space of 3 hours, the Los Angeles Times reported.

"I was thinking, and I am thinking, that this is not the thing that one person can do," Dad said.

Dad said he walked the area separating the three housing compounds hit by a gunman on the night of March 11 and estimated the compounds were about 4 miles apart.

"If it's only one person, one person cannot go to three different places," Dad said.

"One person [would] not have the courage to go to two villages in dark night," Dad testified.

During cross-examination, military prosecutors raised questions about whether he had accurately assessed the distance separating the housing compounds.