Polish troops tried over Afghan civilian killings

WARSAW: Seven Polish soldiers went on trial at a military court on Tuesday charged with the killing of a group of civilians during a tour of duty in Afghanistan two years ago, prosecutors said.Six of the soldiers, who were serving as members of NATO's international security assistance force (ISAF), are facing possible life sentences if found guilty by the military tribunal sitting in the capital Warsaw.After the group pleaded not guilty, prosecutors told the court that six civilians, including women and children, were killed and three were seriously injured after the Polish troops opened mortar and machine gun fire in the village of Nangar Khel in the country's mountainous south-east."One person is accused of opening fire on a civilian area, while the remaining six are charged with opening fire on a civilian area, murder of civilians and causing grievous bodily harm to civilians," military prosecutor Colonel Jakub Mytych told a foreign news agency.The soldiers maintain that they opened fire in response to an attack by a Taliban militia and claim the deaths resulted from faulty mortar equipment.But military prosecutors say the deaths occurred several hours after the Poles had responded to an attack on a separate ISAF patrol.