White Phosphorus Again

Recent news alleges that a number of Afghan civilians have been severely burned during fighting between US Army and Taliban sources. Some are thinking that the Army is using white phosphorus rounds in civilian-filled urban areas, as the US military did in Fallujah in 2004.

Doctors voiced concern over "unusual" burns on Afghan villagers wounded in an already controversial U.S.-Taliban battle, and the country's top human rights groups said Sunday it is investigating the possibility white phosphorus was used.

The American military denied using the incendiary in the battle in Farah province — which President Hamid Karzai has said killed 125 to 130 civilians — but left open the possibility that Taliban militants did. The U.S. says Taliban fighters have used white phosphorus, a spontaneously flammable material that leaves severe chemical burns on flesh, at least four times the last two years.
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Col. Greg Julian, the top U.S. military spokesman in Afghanistan, said the U.S. did not use white phosphorus as a weapon in last week's battle. The U.S. does use white phosphorous to illuminate the night sky, he said.

Julian noted that military officials believe that Taliban militants have used white phosphorus at least four times in Afghanistan in the past two years. "I don't know if they (militants) had it out there or not, but it's not out of the question," he said.

I don't personally know how the battle in Farah province went, but I do believe that it wasn't a heavily built-up urban area as Iraq's major cities are. As a result, I tend to doubt that US forces would be popping WP artillery shells out there. There would be WP flares to illuminate the night sky, no doubt, but these fall slowly and would be easily avoided. I could also see how Taliban forces might have captured (or obtained) WP grenades or other incendiary munitions and, as untrained forces, misused those and caused casualties.

We'll wait for more info and see what's what. But I do want to, as usual, remind you that use of WP in a military combat operation is not in and of itself against the laws of war. It's still not chemical warfare. (Hat tip to Kris!)

UPDATE: Busy day. I did hear that (as noted in comments) the munitions were air-delivered (which pretty much rules out WP), the bodies were examined days after the incident and after they were cleaned in the Muslim custom, and there were no first-hand eyewitnesses other than the Taliban claims. So it looks like this was another knee-jerk "well it was a big blast with heat so it must have been WP" claim.

Comments

[DevilandDevelopment]

Red Phosphorous rounds are some times used to mark night time targets for air. Least they were a few years ago when I was in the artillery community, likely everyone is walking around with fancier equipment now. RP would lead to similar burns.

[Andy]

From what I know of the incident, there was no artillery involved, or even any artillery nearby, so it's almost assuredly air-delivered munitions. I can say with high confidence that coalition aircraft do not carry any WP munitions in Afghanistan.

So far, there appears to be no evidence of WP use, only some vague allegations stemming from "unusual" wounds on some of the victims, whatever that means.