In memory of

Wakil Mohammed, a father of two

killed in the evening of late March 2003  

in the village of Wazi, Paktia Province. A team of Special Forces occupation soldiers of the Alabama-based 20^th Group raided Wazi after a firefight. They detained three unarmed men for questioning. Two of them, brothers Jan and Wakil Mohammad, informed the soldiers they were just returning from evening prayers at the mosque and had nothing to do with the firefight. Suddenly another group of Special Forces soldiers emerged from the hills, yelling and threatening. In the confusion, Jan said his brother grew frantic. Wakil, a woodcutter and father of two, then raised his hands and shouted in Pashto, “De khoday day para ma me vala” (‘For God’s sake, don’t shoot me”). There was a burst of gunfire from a Special Forces soldier. Three rounds ripped into Wakil. One struck him in the mouth. He fell dead at his brother’s feet. Jan Mohammad and a neighbor, Dawood Khan, were then abducted and brought to the Gardez forward operating base of the 20^th Group. There they were beaten, kicked, dunked in icy water, and submerged to the point of drowning. The next day, the two villagers were released. In what is likely very typical, at the end of the day, chief warrant officer of the Special Forces unit, Kenneth Walker, would report to his chain of command that 6 enemy fighters had been killed in action. Amen. Eventually because of the independent investigating by the Crimes of War Project, later joined by Los Angeles Times staff writer Kevin Sack, the truth would gradually emerge about what had happened that day in an Afghan village. No one has been charged and prosecuted.

  
Killed by an occupation soldier of the U.S. Special Forces 20^th Group