US soldier in Afghan massacre ‘snapped’
US: he US soldier accused of killing 16 Afghan civilians had been
drinking at the time of the shootings and was suffering stress linked to
his fourth combat deployment, a report said late Thursday.
The staff sergeant had also been experiencing “tensions” with his
wife when he allegedly left his base in southern Kandahar province
before dawn Sunday and went on to kill 16 people, many of them children,
in two neighboring villages, an unnamed US official told The New York
Times.
“When it all comes out, it will be a combination of stress, alcohol
and domestic issues -- he just snapped,” the official told the Times.The
soldier was flown to Kuwait on Wednesday because officials said the US
military did not have a suitable detention facility in Afghanistan to
hold him.
The Times report said the soldier would likely be moved again from
Kuwait to the United States as early as Friday.
No official statement has disclosed the soldier's motivation or
mental state three days after the incident, which has plunged US-Afghan
relations to a new low and raised broader questions about the US
strategy there.
Questions will likely emerge about the soldier's “emotional and
mental stability for a fourth deployment” after his three previous tours
in Iraq, the unnamed official told the Times.
The soldier has not been identified, but is described as a
38-year-old married father of two.
The report said he enlisted in the US army in 2001. AFP |