Australian military clears troops

By Nick Bryant
BBC News, Sydney

Australia has 1,000 troops in Afghanistan

The Australian military has cleared its troops of any wrongdoing in a battle in Afghanistan last November during which two women and a baby were killed.

The civilians were killed in southern Uruzgan province during an operation in which an Australian soldier also died.

An Australian Defence Force inquiry found no evidence that its troops had breached their rules of engagement.

The inquiry also dismissed allegations that Australian troops had mistreated Afghan prisoners afterwards.

Australia has about 1,000 troops in Afghanistan as part of the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf).

'Highly regrettable'

Australia takes great pride in the performance of its overseas troops - or diggers as they are known here - so the allegation of wrongdoing over the deaths of two women and an infant in Afghanistan on 23 November was treated with the utmost seriousness.

The investigations into the first three combat deaths in the incident indicate that our procedures and the conduct of our people is as we would hope as a nation they might be Lt Gen Ken Gillespie Vice-Chief, Australian Defence Force

Following an internal inquiry, the Australian military absolved its troops of any blame, saying that the civilian deaths were "highly regrettable" but did not breach the established rules of engagement.

Investigators decided that one of the women who was killed was firing an AK-47 assault rifle, and was therefore deemed to be an enemy combatant.

They also concluded that the baby who died was in one of the rooms from which the woman and two men were firing on Australian troops.

The report said the Taleban had engaged Australian special forces troops from within a compound known to be occupied by civilians.

Vice-Chief of the Defence Force Lt-Gen Ken Gillespie defended the actions of his troops and said no further formal investigation into the combat deaths was required.

"The investigations into the first three combat deaths in the incident indicate that our procedures and the conduct of our people is as we would hope as a nation they might be," he said.

"In fact, there is a fairly strong record of our troops calling off operations at times where they couldn't be sure that civilians wouldn't be caught up in the resulting melee."

The gun battle resulted in the death of a special forces soldier and the inquiry also looked into allegations that four Afghan prisoners had been mistreated in its aftermath.

Again, the Australian soldiers were absolved of any blame.

Indeed, the Australian military also says that the Taleban has adopted a new tactic of falsely accusing coalition troops of mistreating detainees.

A separate investigation is continuing into allegations of mistreatment following the death last month of another Australian soldier.