Kandahar massacre

Kandahar massacre
Location of the massacre in the Kandahar Province in Afghanistan
Location	Panjwai District, Kandahar Province, Afghanistan
Coordinates	31°31′37″N 65°29′56″E / 31.527°N 65.499°E / 31.527; 65.499
Date	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.