11 March 2012; 12 years ago (2012-03-11) 03:00 AFT (UTC+04:30)
Attack type
Triple home invasion, spree killing, mass murder
Weapons
M4 carbine with M203 grenade launcher and an M9 pistol. Some victims were found stabbed in addition to being shot.
Deaths
16
Injured
6
Victims
Afghan civilians
Perpetrator
Robert Bales
The Kandahar massacre, also called the Panjwai massacre,[1] was a mass murder that occurred in the early hours of 11 March 2012, when United States Army Staff Sergeant Robert Bales murdered 16 Afghan civilians and wounded six others in the Panjwayi District of Kandahar Province, Afghanistan. Nine of his victims were children, and 11 of the dead were from the same family. Some of the corpses were partially burned. Bales was taken into custody later that morning when he told authorities, "I did it".
The U.S. and International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) authorities apologized for the deaths. Afghan authorities condemned the act, describing it as "intentional murder". The National Assembly of Afghanistan passed a resolution demanding a public trial in Afghanistan. Still, then-U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said the soldier would be tried under U.S. military law. Bales pleaded guilty on 5 June 2013 to 16 counts of premeditated murder in exchange for the prosecution not seeking a death sentence. At the time of the plea, he said he did not know why he committed the murders. On 23 August 2013, Bales was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.[2]
United States authorities concluded that the killings were the act of a single individual. On 15 March 2012, an Afghan parliamentary probe team consisting of several members of the National Assembly of Afghanistan had speculated that up to 20 U.S. soldiers were involved in the killings. The team later said they could not confirm claims that multiple soldiers participated in the massacre.
^Shah, Taimoor, "Days Of Horror And Grief: Reporting The Panjwai Massacre", New York Times, 9 November 2012
^Healy, Jack (23 August 2013). "Soldier Gets Life Without Parole in Deaths of Afghan Civilians". NY Times. Archived from the original on 27 October 2014. Retrieved 23 August 2013.
The Kandaharmassacre, also called the Panjwai massacre, was a mass murder that occurred in the early hours of 11 March 2012, when United States Army...
shooting in Panjwayi District, Kandahar Province, Afghanistan, on March 11, 2012 – an event known as the Kandaharmassacre. In order to avoid the death...
11 March 2012, the Kandaharmassacre occurred when sixteen civilians were killed and six wounded in the Panjwayi District of Kandahar Province, Afghanistan...
Brereton Inquiry War crimes by the Taliban Kunduz hospital airstrike Kandaharmassacre Torture Bagram torture and prisoner abuse Salt Pit Peace process Afghan...
also titled The Kill Team, is based on the events of the murders. Kandaharmassacre (Afghanistan, 2012) Mahmudiyah killings (Iraq, 2006) Haditha killings...
Kandahār (Pashto: کندهار; Kandahār, Dari: قندهار; Qandahār) is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan, located in the southern part of the country...
The Granai airstrike, sometimes called the Granai massacre, refers to the killing of approximately 86 to 147 Afghan civilians by an airstrike by a US Air...
Quran burning protests April attacks Forward Operating Base Delhi massacreKandaharmassacre September Camp Bastion raid Shesh Aba raid Body pictures 2013...
citizens (mostly women and children) in an incident known as the Kandaharmassacre. Browne defended Bales alongside military lawyers. Browne described...
Quran burning protests April attacks Forward Operating Base Delhi massacreKandaharmassacre September Camp Bastion raid Shesh Aba raid Body pictures 2013...
Quran burning protests April attacks Forward Operating Base Delhi massacreKandaharmassacre September Camp Bastion raid Shesh Aba raid Body pictures 2013...
Mukaradeeb wedding party massacre FOB Ramrod kill team in War in Afghanistan Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse Kandaharmassacre For "frag" see Fragmentation...
provocations such as the 2012 Afghanistan Quran burning protests and the Kandaharmassacre. In 2012, according to NATO, 51 coalition service members died due...
Brereton Inquiry War crimes by the Taliban Kunduz hospital airstrike Kandaharmassacre Torture Bagram torture and prisoner abuse Salt Pit Peace process Afghan...
Jan-Aug Kabul school Spin Boldak Massacres Dasht-i-Leili Shinwar Nangar Narang Maywand Khataba Badakhshan Kandahar FOB Delhi Other U.S. urination incident...
two soldiers who had died in the war, one American and one British. Kandaharmassacre Frontline Blogger Covers War in Iraq With a Soldier’s Eyes. The New...
WikiLeaks. Robert Bales, accused of killing 16 Afghan civilians in the Kandaharmassacre on 11 March 2012. Kansas portal Richmeier, John (28 September 2010)...
convicted of murdering 16 civilians in Afghanistan, an event known as the Kandaharmassacre. He was sentenced to life without parole after pleading guilty as...
terrorist incidents in 2024 List of massacres in Afghanistan "Afghanistan: IS claims responsibility for suicide bomb at Kandahar bank". BBC News. Retrieved March...
Southgate, aged 20, from 2 Squadron, Kandahar Airfield Defence Force, died in an explosion while on patrol North of Kandahar Airfield in Helmand province. On...
murders of three Afghan civilians in Kandahar Province and collecting their body parts as trophies. The Kandaharmassacre was a mass murder that occurred in...
nearby as part of the Kandaharmassacre. The twelve bodies were partially burned. Kandahar Province "How it happened: Massacre in Kandahar". BBC News. BBC....
(including nine children) and wounded six others in Afghanistan during the Kandaharmassacre in 2012. Bales agreed to a plea deal during his court-martial in order...
of Wech Baghtu, a Taliban stronghold in the Shah Wali Kot District of Kandahar province, Afghanistan. The airstrike followed a firefight breaking out...
spring offensive led by Mullah Dadullah in the provinces of Helmand and Kandahar, which had marked the most significant escalation of the war in Afghanistan...
held on 3 March 2020. Robert Bales (born 1973), perpetrator of the Kandaharmassacre Johnny M. Horne Jr. (born 1971), murdered a teenaged Iraqi girl https://www...
the Taliban-controlled village of Hajji Baba southwest of Kandahar City. The Kandaharmassacre occurred at around 3:00 AM on Sunday, March 11, 2012, when...
Global Information