Ten months after the killing of 19 Afghan civilians by a U.S. marine corps company, the marine corps set up a special panel Monday to investigate the incident.
The panel's job is to find out in the next two weeks whether Maj. Fred C. Galvin, commander of the 120-person unit, and platoon leader Capt. Vincent J. Noble, obstructed the law during the U.S. military's investigation of the case.
After that, the panel will make recommendations to Lt. Gen. Samuel Hell and, commander of U.S. Marine Forces Central Command, who will decide whether to charge the two officers with a crime.
No one in the company has been charged so far and the marine corps does not say how to deal with the rest involved in the killings.
On March 4, 2007, a convoy made up of some 30 soldiers of the company was hit by a car bomb on a road in Afghanistan. The soldiers then fired indiscriminately at all the people in cars, buses and taxies along a long stretch of the road, leaving as many as 19 Afghans dead and dozens injured.
The incident caused global outrage and the company was called back to the United States.
However, the investigation process took a rather slow pace and marine corps leaders said they believed their soldiers had done nothing wrong.
Source: Xinhua
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