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Granai airstrike
Part of the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)
Date May 4, 2009 Location Granai, Bala Buluk District, Farah Province, Afghanistan32°37′19″N 62°26′06″E / 32.62194°N 62.43500°E / 32.62194; 62.43500
Casualties and losses
Estimate: 86–147 killed, mostly women and children
class=notpageimage| Location within Afghanistan

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 Force B-1 Bomber on May 4, 2009, in the village of Granai (Pashto: گرانای, also Romanized Garani, Gerani, Granay) in Farah Province, south of Herat, Afghanistan.

The United States admitted significant errors were made in carrying out the airstrike, stating "the inability to discern the presence of civilians and avoid and/or minimize accompanying collateral damage resulted in the unintended consequence of civilian casualties".

The Afghan government said that around 140 civilians were killed, of whom 22 were adult males and 93 were children. Afghanistan's top rights body has said 97 civilians were killed, most of them children. Other estimates range from 86 to 147 civilians killed. An earlier probe by the US military had said that 20–30 civilians were killed along with 60–65 insurgents. A partially released American inquiry stated "no one will ever be able conclusively to determine the number of civilian casualties that occurred". The Australian had said that the airstrike resulted in "one of the highest civilian death tolls from Western military action since foreign forces invaded Afghanistan in 2001".

Airstrike video

A Combat Camera video of the airstrike was made by the bomber aircraft involved. When the Pentagon investigation on the incident was released in 2009, it did not include the video.

By May 2010, WikiLeaks had an encrypted copy of the video it had received from then U.S. Army Specialist Chelsea Manning and was attempting to decrypt it. In a March 2013 statement, Julian Assange disputed prior news reports claiming WikiLeaks had been unable to decrypt the file and alleged that the video "documented a massacre, a war crime."

Assange said WikiLeaks no longer had the video due to former spokesperson Daniel Domscheit-Berg deleting it and other files when he left WikiLeaks in September 2010 and a Swedish Intelligence operation conducted in September 2010 in which other copies of the video were also lost.

See also

• Haska Meyna wedding party airstrike
• Wech Baghtu wedding party airstrike
• Azizabad airstrike
• Sangin airstrike
• Civilian casualties in the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)

References

1. "Hollow Excuses". Afghanistan Analysts Network - English. September 12, 2009.
2. Campbell, Matthew (11 April 2010). "Whistleblowers on US 'massacre' fear CIA stalkers". The Times. London. Archived from the original on June 29, 2011. Retrieved 21 May 2010.
3. ^ de Luce, Dan (8 June 2009). "We failed to follow bombing rules: Pentagon". AFP. Archived from the original on August 10, 2010. Retrieved 21 May 2010.
4. ^ Shalizi, Hamid; Graff, Peter (16 May 2009). "U.S. strikes killed 140 villagers: Afghan probe". Reuters. Retrieved 21 May 2010.
5. Gall, Carlotta; Shah, Taimoor (14 May 2009). "Afghan Villagers Describe Chaos of U.S. Strikes newspaper". The New York Times. Retrieved 21 May 2010.
6. Boone, Jon; MacAskill, Ewen; Tran, Mark (6 May 2009). "US air strikes kill dozens of Afghan civilians". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 21 May 2010.
7. ^ Farmer, Ben (11 April 2010). "Wikileaks 'to release video of US strike on Afghan civilians'". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 21 May 2010.
8. Tran, Mark (3 June 2009). "US military admits errors in air strikes that killed scores of Afghan civilians". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 21 May 2010.
9. Schmitt, Eric P; Shanker, Thom (2 June 2009). "US Report Finds Errors in Afghan Airstrikes". The New York Times. Retrieved 21 May 2010.
10. Denselow, James (23 June 2010). "Hail to the whistleblowers". The Guardian. London.
11. "'More than 100' die in US-led air strike in Afghanistan". The Australian. 6 May 2009. Retrieved 21 May 2010.
12. de Luce, Dan (18 June 2009). "US military debates release of Afghan air strike probe". AFP. Archived from the original on August 10, 2010. Retrieved 21 May 2010.
13. McGreal, Chris (16 June 2010). "WikiLeaks to release video of deadly US Afghan attack". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 21 June 2010.
14. Poulsen, Kevin; Zetter, Kim (6 June 2010). "U.S. Intelligence Analyst Arrested in Wikileaks Video Probe". Wired. Retrieved 15 June 2010.
15. Savage, Charlie (1 March 2013). "Soldier Admits Providing Files to WikiLeaks". The New York Times. Retrieved 13 June 2013.
16. ^ "WikiLeaks has more US secrets, Assange says". March 5, 2013. AU: The Age. 2013-03-05. Retrieved March 5, 2013.
17. Assange, Julian (Verified User: _JulianAssange) (10 January 2017). "I am Julian Assange founder of WikiLeaks -- Ask Me Anything". Reddit. Retrieved 12 January 2017. {{cite web}}: |first1= has generic name (help)
18. Assange, Julian. "Affidavit of Julian Assange".

External links

• Gregory, Thomas (26 Apr 2012). "Potential Lives, Impossible Deaths: Afghanistan, Civilian Casualties and the Politics of Intelligibility". International Feminist Journal of Politics. 14 (3): 327–347. doi:10.1080/14616742.2012.659851. S2CID 142864199.
• Rethink Afghanistan (report from the scene), archived from the original (video) on February 1, 2013.
• Destroyed buildings and victims (images), Rawa, archived from the original on June 19, 2013. ()

v t e Farah Province
Capital: Farah
Districts	Anar Dara Bakwa Bala Buluk Farah Gulistan Khaki Safed Lash Wa Juwayn Pur Chaman Pusht Rod Pusht-e-Koh Qala i Kah Shib Koh
Populated places	Azad Azaw Diveneh Granai Istowi Kadanak Kal Qal'ah Tojg Warg
History	Farah-Chakansur Province Baha'uddin Jan Sharafat Kuh Front Battle of Shewan Granai airstrike 2013 attack Battle 2019 bombing
Other	Governors Farah Airport Farah City Hospital Farah River Farah University Fil Kush Hamun Lake Lor Koh Route 515 Route 522

• 2009 massacres of the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)
• History of Farah Province
• Airstrikes during the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)
• Airstrikes by populated place
• Civilian casualties in the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)
• United States war crimes in Afghanistan
• May 2009 events in Afghanistan
• 2009 airstrikes