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Posted on: Sunday, February 29, 2004
Probe finds shootings of civilians by Schofield soldiers were justified
By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer
KIRKUK, Iraq — An investigation of the shooting of several Iraqi civilians conducted by the 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, the unit involved, has found that the "soldiers did the right thing," Maj. Scott Halstead, adjutant of the 2nd Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Light), said yesterday.
The investigation still has to be reviewed by 2nd Brigade commander Col. Lloyd Miles.
The incident was the focus of a Knight Ridder News Service story and photograph that appeared on Page One of yesterday's Advertiser.
Halstead said that on Feb. 18, near the city of Al Huwijah, a convoy consisting of soldiers from 1-27 and the 1st Battalion, 12th Infantry from the 4th Infantry Division hit a roadside bomb that destroyed a Humvee and injured a 1-12 soldier.
Halstead said three civilians were in the area. They ran off, leading to suspicion they had planted the roadside bomb. He said the soldiers chased what they described as three women, and fired on the group when they saw what they believed to be a rocket-propelled grenade.
When soldiers got to the location, they found three females, a mother and her two daughters. One daughter had been killed.
"The rules of engagement are, if the enemy presents a threat, and again, these three women had what looked like a rocket-propelled grenade, and they had just left the immediate site of (a bomb) that had destroyed one of our vehicles," Halstead said.
"It is well within our rules of engagement to defend ourselves, so our soldiers perceived that threat from these three people with what they thought was an RPG and returned fire."
No RPG was found, Halstead said. "We only fire when we have to," he said " ... We train that way and we're executing that way in Iraq.
"Our soldiers did their job. ... But (the women) presented a threat by the fact they were near an (improvised explosive device) and they had an object that looked like an RPG. Our soldiers did the right thing."
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