*EPF102 02/11/2002
Defense Department Report, February 11: Afghanistan, Detainees
(Zhawar Kili attack, Hazar Qadam detainees, detainees in Cuba) (520)

HUMAN REMAINS FROM ZHAWAR KILI ATTACK SITE TO BE ANALYZED IN U.S.

Human remains have been recovered from the site of the February 4 attack near Zhawar Kili, and will be analyzed in the United States, a Pentagon spokesmen said.

Rear Admiral John Stufflebeem, briefing at the Pentagon February 11, said the investigation team sent to the attack site last week has now left the area.

"[T]he team has recovered some documents, some clothing, two missile fins, an empty box used for a hand-held radio, some AK-47 ... [ammunition] pouches and some 300 rounds of 50-caliber ... [ammunition] and, yes, some human remains," Stufflebeem said. English-language materials, including credit card applications and airline schedules, were among the recovered documents, he said.

Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clarke, who briefed with Stufflebeem, said the evidence would be brought back to the continental United States. The military is trying to gather DNA for identification purposes, Stufflebeem said.

The members of the U.S. investigative team were not the first "either human or animal to have gotten to the scene," Stufflebeem said. [Bad weather had prevented site investigation for several days after the strike.] There were no indications of fresh graves at the site, but the only human remains were pieces of bodies, Stufflebeem said.

Confirming a bit more information about the people who had been targeted by the strike, Stufflebeem said a small group of people had gotten out of vehicles on a hillside and were meeting away from the vehicles when the unmanned Predator aircraft fired a missile at them. There were no indications of survivors, he said.

INVESTIGATION OF TREATMENT OF HAZAR QADAM DETAINEES UNDER WAY

Stufflebeem noted that a formal investigation of the Hazar Qadam raid was under way, and that it is military policy not to discuss an incident while it is under investigation. He added that in terms of the beatings that had been reported, "there is no information that we have heard that would support" the allegations.

"Now I would tell you, on a personal level, having been through military training with special operating forces ... it's not a pleasant experience for anybody to have to endure that," Stufflebeem said. His training experience was posing as a prisoner of war whom the special operating forces were sent to recover, he said.

"The team gets on the ground and secures the area. If they're being fired at, they return fire.... And in that initial encounter, you don't know who's good, you don't know who's bad, and you don't take chances.... So everybody's treated the same, and it's relatively harsh, I would say. Once identities are established, it's quite a different mode," Stufflebeem said.

MORE DETAINEES ARE ON WAY TO GUANTANAMO BAY'S CAMP X-RAY

Stufflebeem said 34 more detainees were en route from Afghanistan to the Camp X-ray detention facility at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where they will join the 220 detainees currently there. There are still 209 detaines in Afghanistan under U.S. control, he said.

(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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