European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 12, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Thursday april 122007 stars and stripes Page 9 acis to review marines response to afghan attack by Robert Burns the associated press Washington a us military commander has determined that marines accused of killing civil ians after a suicide bombing in Afghanistan last month used excessive Force and he has referred the Case for possible criminal inquiry the associated press has Learned the initial investigation of the March 4 incident in which up to a dozen afghan civilians Are reported to have died concluded that the marines response was out of proportion to the threat that was immediately there a senior defense official said wednes Day the official spoke on condition of anonymity be cause the probes results have not been released the findings have been forwarded to Central com Mand which has responsibility for us military operations in the Middle East and Central Asia the Case also has been referred to the naval Crim Inal investigative service for a broader criminal in Quiry the official said another official also speaking on condition of anonymity said the initial military investigation concluded that there was a reasonable suspicion that the marines violated the rules for the use of deadly Force and that crimes possibly including homicide May have been committed in the aftermath of the Convoy being struck by a car bomb the naval investigative service got the Case with in the past week but has not yet begun interviewing the marines this official said this official said the number of marines involved in the Case is in the 20s they were in six military vehicles that were travelling in a Convoy at the time of the incident in the March 4 incident in Nan Gahar province an explosive rigged minivan crashed into a Convoy of marines that us officials said also came under fire from gunmen reports of the number of dead and wounded varied injured afghans said the Ameri cans fired on civilian cars and pedestrians As they sped away us military officials said militant gunmen shot at marines and May have caused some of the civil Ian casualties the afghan government has done its own investigation and the results Are pending president Hamid Karzai condemned the incident which was one among several involving us forces in which civilians were killed and injured army maj Gen Francis h Kearney i head of special operations command Central began his investigation after taking the highly unusual step of or Dering the unit of about 120 marines out of Afghani Stan the marines Are in a special operations unit that deployed from Camp Lejeune no in january with the 26th Marine expeditionary unit after Kearney ordered them out of Afghanistan they returned to the ships of the 26th in the persian Gulf their unit is one of four Marine special operations command companies that have been established since the command was created in february 2006 the one ordered out of Afghanistan was the first to deploy abroad David m of the us army us army maj Arnold Strong of task Force Phoenix assists local afghan residents with Relief supplies us afghan troops assist flood victims stars and stripes afghan and american soldiers Are continuing Relief work for Vic Tims of recent flooding in Afghani Stan with efforts including Resi dents of Kabul though heavy Rains stopped about a week ago hundreds of people remain without food water or shelter officials said in one Relief Effort some 100 families in Kabul received Rice Beans cooking Oil flour and other Aid tools such As shovels and stoves also were distributed the goods came from Bagram Airfield and were donated by us forces there us army maj Christopher Graves of the embedded training team working with afghan military police according to a news release the Relief supplies were organized and distributed from the Kabul military training Center officials said nearly on third of the country has been affected by the flooding Relief officials said More than 80 people have been killed and about 75000 More have been displaced according to officials of the u n Relief Agen cies pm Cirini no to celebrate use a designated Driver a designated Driver is someone who agrees to drink nonalcoholic beverages Only takes care of other members in his or her group ensures All group members get a Safe ride Home plans ahead i com Europe Region