WASHINGTON, Oct. 26 (UPI) -- Members of a U.S. Army platoon tried to convince elders in an Afghan village the shooting death of a cleric wasn't random, charging documents allege.
The platoon's attempt to defend its May 2 shooting of cleric Mullah Adahdad are detailed in previously undisclosed audio recordings made by a photojournalist embedded with the unit, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.
The recordings obtained by the Post demonstrate the extent to which the platoon was concerned about how the killing was perceived by the Afghans, the newspaper said.
In the recordings, the platoon leader tells elders in the village of Qualaday in Kandahar province that the cleric had attacked them with a Russian grenade.
The elders complained to Army officers that the cleric had been unarmed and the shooting was a setup.
The charging documents allege the cleric's death culminated a monthslong conspiracy in which members of a unit of the 5th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, randomly targeted and killed three unarmed Afghan men, dismembered the corpses and then posed for photos with their victims.
