US military pays out $45m for war deaths

April 13, 2007
US military pays out $45m for war deaths

WASHINGTON: The US military has paid at least $US33 million ($NZ45m) to civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan for wrongful deaths and injuries, the Army said after some of the claims were made public.

Civilians have said relatives were run over by tanks, shot dead at checkpoints or killed by stray bullets, according to claims that provided a glimpse of the hazards civilians faced as the United States and its allies battled insurgents in the two countries.

Of 500 claims obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union under an open government law, 200 were denied because the incident took place in combat situations – for example, a 16-year-old Baghdad youth killed by a US sniper who mistook his schoolbag for a dangerous object.