Polish troops acquitted in civilian Afghan deaths

[June 02, 2011]  WARSAW, Poland (AP) -- A military court has acquitted seven Polish soldiers in the killing of Afghan civilians when they opened mortar and gun fire on a village in Afghanistan.

The military court in Warsaw ruled Wednesday that there was not enough evidence to support the charges of war crimes in the case.

The defendants had argued that the mortar and machine-gun attack that killed six civilians in an Afghan village of Nangarkhel on Aug. 16, 2007, was targeting Taliban extremists.

The ruling was made by a five-judge panel. It wasn't immediately clear if the ruling could be appealed.

Poland has about 1,600 troops in NATO's mission in Afghanistan.

[Associated Press]

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