Apr 18, 2012

GRAPHIC CONTENT: Photos from weekend attacks in Afghanistan

Stokely Baksh 0 Comment World Afghanistan, Bay Ismoyo, Johannes Eisele, Massoud Hossaini, Omar Sobhani, Parwiz, Sabawoon Amarkhil, security, security forces, Shah Marai, Taliban, war

22 photos

The Los Angeles Times published controversial photos today showing U.S. soldiers posing with bodies of dead Afghan insurgents. The images were given to The Times by an American soldier, who provided a series of 18 photos on condition of anonymity.

On Sunday, Kabul was rocked by intense gunfire and explosions as part of a “spring offensive” claimed by the Taliban that lasted into Monday. According to reports, the attacks were focused on targets including the parliament building, the NATO force’s headquarters, and Western embassies.

Below are photos and reporting from war photographers in Kabul: Sabawoon Amarkhil, Johannes Eisele, Bay Ismoyo, Massoud Hossaini, Shah Marai, all of AFP/Getty Images, and Parwiz and Omar Sobhani of Reuters.

: April 15: An Afghan Army soldier is armed with a rocket-propelled grenade during the attacks in the city of Kabul. Explosions and gunfire rocked the Afghan capital Kabul as suicide bombers struck across Afghanistan in coordinated attacks claimed by Taliban insurgents at the start of a spring offensive. (Johannes Eisele/AFP/Getty Images)

: April 15: Soldiers from the Afghan National Army keep watch near the Provincial Reconstruction Team as smoke rises from the site of an attack in Jalalabad province. (Parwiz/Reuters)

: April 15: Afghan policemen take position at the site of an attack in Kabul. Gunmen launched multiple attacks in the Afghan capital Kabul on Sunday, assaulting Western embassies in the heavily guarded, central diplomatic area and at the parliament in the west, witnesses and officials said. (Omar Sobhani/Reuters)

: April 15: Afghan policemen take cover at the scene of an attack in Kabul. (Shah Marai/AFP/Getty Images)

: April 15: Members of Afghanistan’s Ministry of Interior (MOI) walk near a building being used by insurgents near the scene of an attack in Kabul. (Massoud Hossaini/AFP/Getty Images)

: April 15: Afghan men stand around the wreckage of a car used by a suicide attacker in Jalalabad province. (Parwiz/Reuters)

: April 16: Sparks from a fire caused by an explosion are seen at a construction site during a battle between Afghan forces and Taliban insurgents including suicide bombers in Kabul. (Omar Sobhani/Reuters)

: April 16: Police secure a building riddled with bullet holes in Kabul, a day after insurgents used the building to attack the parliament building. (Bay Ismoyo/AFP/Getty Images)

: April 16: An Afghan police officer uses a mobile phone to photograph the dead body of an insurgent lying on the floor of a room with bullet riddled walls in Kabul. (Bay Ismoyo/AFP/Getty Images)

: April 16: The dead body of an insurgent lies on the ground inside the building where Taliban fighters launched an attack in Kabul. (Johannes Eisele/AFP/Getty Images)

: April 16: Afghan policemen are mirrored in glass from a broken window as they stand guard outside the building where Taliban fighters launched an attack in Kabul. A total of 36 Taliban militants were killed as they mounted a wave of attacks across Afghanistan, Interior Minister Bismillah Mohammadi said. (Johannes Eisele/AFP/Getty Images)

: April 16: The dead body of an insurgent lies on the floor inside a building in Kabul. (Johannes Eisele/AFP/Getty Images)

: April 16: An Afghan policeman stands near the dead body of a suicide attacker in Kabul. Heavy street fighting between militants and security forces in the center of the Afghan capital Kabul ended on Monday after 18 hours of intense gunfire, rocket attacks and explosions, police and government officials said. (Omar Sobhani/Reuters)

: April 16: The bodies of two insurgents lie on the floor as an Afghan police officer secures the area in Kabul. (Bay Ismoyo/AFP/Getty Images)

: April 16: Afghan policemen stand guard outside the building where Taliban fighters launched an attack in Kabul. (Shah Marai/AFP/Getty Images)

: April 16: Afghan policemen and officials stand next to the wreckage of a car used in a suicide attack in front of the building from which insurgents launched an attack, in Kabul on April 16. A total of 47 people were killed and some 65 wounded.(Massoud Hossaini/AFP/Getty Images)

: April 16: Municipality workers clean the area outside the building where Taliban fighters launched an attack in Kabul. (Massoud Hossaini/AFP/Getty Images)

: April 16: Afghan policemen stand guard near the building where Taliban fighters launched an attack in Kabul. (Massoud Hossaini/AFP/Getty Images)

: April 16: An Afghan policemen uses his gun to raise a cordon next to the building where Taliban fighters launched an attack in Kabul. (Johannes Eisele/AFP/Getty Images)

: April 16: Afghan security forces arrive at the scene of an attack in Kabul. (Massoud Hossaini/AFP/Getty Images)

: April 16: Afghan policemen walk outside a building from which Taliban fighters launched an attack in Logar province. Afghanistan said its forces regained control of Kabul on April 16, after killing Taliban militants, some disguised as women in burqas, who launched one of the biggest attacks on the capital in a decade of war. (Sabawoon Amarkhil/AFP/Getty Images)

: April 16: Afghan police officers secure the area outside a building which Taliban fighters used to launch an attack in Logar province. (Sabawoon Amarkhil/AFP/Getty Images)

Related story on The Baltimore Sun: U.S. troops pose with Afghan insurgent bodies

KABUL (Reuters) – Already tense U.S. and NATO ties with Afghanistan were dealt another blow on Wednesday with photographs appearing in an American newspaper of U.S. soldiers posing with the maimed bodies of dead Afghan insurgents.

Senior U.S. officials and NATO’s top commander in the country, U.S. General John Allen, moved quickly to condemn the pictures even before they were published by the Los Angeles Times, which received the photos from another soldier.

“The actions of the individuals photographed do not represent the policies of International Security Assistance Force or the U.S. Army,” Allen said in a statement, adding an investigation into the incident was underway.

The appearance on the LA Times website of some of the 18 pictures, taken in 2010, comes at a sensitive time in U.S.-Afghan relations, following release of a video in January that showed four U.S. Marines urinating on Afghan insurgent corpses.

GRAPHIC CONTENT: Photos from weekend attacks in Afghanistan

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