Dutch soldiers in Afghanistan shot 11 villagers, four fatally, during an incident in 2007, according to US military documents published on website Wikileaks at the weekend, website nu.nl reports.
The soldiers were protecting a village called Chenartu when it was under fire from the Taliban when the shooting happened, the US documents show.
The information is contained in a huge cache of classified papers posted by Wikileaks as the Afghan War Diary.
Civilians
RTL news has already used freedom of information legislation to find out that 110 civilians have been killed by Dutch soldiers in Afghanistan, and a total €350,000 has been paid in compensation to relatives. But no details of the shooting incidents was given.
A defence ministry spokesman confirmed the shooting to nu.nl, and said the incident had already been reported in dispatches, although the fact there were civilian casualties was not mentioned.
Nevertheless, the shooting was formally investigated and there was no reason to take action against the soldiers concerned, he said.
Dutch News
