Afghans outraged after US Marines cleared

Afghans reacted with outrage Saturday after the US military found Marines had acted appropriately when they opened fire after an attack last year, killing at least 10 civilians.

The country's top rights body meanwhile reiterated its finding that the troops had used excessive force in the March 4 incident in Nangarhar and the United Nations said it was disappointed no one was held accountable.

"I'm deeply outraged over this," Abdul Aziz Khairkhawa, deputy head of the Nangarhar provincial council, told AFP after the US Marines' announcement Friday.

"People sleeping in their home or walking on the road are being killed and they say they are innocent. This is not acceptable," he told AFP.

Khairkhawa said the soldiers should have been "strongly punished" and made to apologise.

The Marines opened fire after a suicide bombing on a patrol that wounded a soldier. They said it was a "complex attack" involving the bomb and small arms fire.

The Afghan interior ministry said the troops killed 10 civilians, including children. The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission said they had killed around a dozen civilians and wounded 35. More