AFGHANISTAN: Senior NATO Commander General James Jones says investigations are continuing after pictures showing desecration of human bones in Afghanistan were published in a German newspaper

NATO supreme commander for Europe U.S. Marines General James Jones said on Saturday (October 28) that investigations were continuing after pictures showing the desecration of human bones in Afghanistan were published in a German newspaper. "On other issues pertaining to the allegation of pictures and so on and so forth, we are working on that. The German authorities have expressed concern. They are conducting an investigation and I think those results will be made public as soon as we have answers," Jones told reporters at a news conference in Bagram. On Wednesday (October 25), top-selling German daily newspaper Bild published photographs of soldiers striking poses with skulls. The images, which included one of a skull shown next to a soldier's exposed penis, were condemned by German politicians and NATO after their initial publication by daily Bild. Since then other photos have emerged, and on Saturday, Bild published a front-page photograph of a soldier holding a pistol to a skull assembled with other bones to form a human skeleton. The paper said more soldiers may have been involved in the scandal than previously thought. In another picture, a soldier sat on a mound of earth above a skull and crossed bones. A further image showed a pit filled with bones, which Bild said was near Kabul. Germany suspended two soldiers for their part in the desecration of human skulls in Afghanistan, the Defence Ministry said on Friday (October 27). Nine suspects have been investigated so far over the matter. The Defence Ministry said the two suspended soldiers were involved in images taken in 2003. Chancellor Angela Merkel vowed to seek out and punish those responsible and appealed to the Afghan people to react calmly to the scandal as fears grew that German troops could be exposed to greater dangers after the publication of the photos. The photographs emerged as Merkel's government unveiled a long-term national security policy which sees an increasingly important role for the army outside Germany. On Thursday (October 26), Germany told its embassies to tighten security measures due to concerns the photos could harm its image abroad.

ITN Source | October 28, 2006

Tags:. .europe. .earth. .army. .allegation. .troops