Over the 12 months since the tragic tale of the deaths of six Afghan civilians - including four kids - killed last year in a raid by Australian forces, video journalist Sophie McNeill and chief producer Geoff Parish have been assiduously digging into that story. And tonight - some chilling new developments. A warning, though - there are images in their report that could disturb some viewers.
REPORTER: Sophie McNeill
WOMAN (Translation): There is my brother. Those are my martyrs. What sin have they committed? They didn't do anything wrong.
Afghanistan's pain seems endless.
WOMAN (Translation): For what sin did they kill him and riddle his body with bullet holes?
This woman claims she survived an attack last year by Australian soldiers that destroyed her family, killing four children, a teenager and an adult. She says they're buried here.
WOMAN (Translation): Here they are. Oh God, oh my dear brother. God, they've made a sieve out of it. Oh God. Haji, come and see what they did to my brother. See what they did to my sweet brother. Oh God, this is his shirt.
One day after the attack, on 13 February 2009, this is what the Australian Defence Force had to say.
LIEUTENANT GENERAL MARK EVANS, HEAD OF JOINT OPERATIONS (13 FEB 2009): During the conduct of this operation there was an exchange of fire between our forces and the Taliban. Tragically a number of people were killed and wounded during this incident. Current reporting indicates that those killed include a suspected insurgent and, sadly, local nationals, including five children killed and two children and two adults injured.
One month after that announcement we broadcast this man, who came forward claiming to be a survivor of the attack.
MAN (Translation): We were at home and suddenly they burst in - soldiers and fighters... those Australians.
After consultation with the ADF, we now believe he's an impostor, giving a false account of that fateful night. In Perth, our broadcast caught the attention of local Afghan community leader Farid Popal. Popal left Afghanistan for Australia over 25 years ago, but he still closely follows news of his homeland. He wasn't convinced by the man in Dateline's report.
FARID POPAL, AFGHAN COMMUNITY LEADER: I think when we first saw those footage, we saw some discrepancies in the account in the story, such as the dialect and the accent that the people spoke. We thought those people might not be from that region so that was the initial starting point.
Using his local contacts in Afghanistan, Farid Popal began to try and find the relatives of those killed.
FARID POPAL: Some family members, they have managed to put us in touch with another person who went there to Sur Murghab. He went to that village and he found those survivors for us, yeah.
The Australian Defence Force had also begun investigating the incident, and Dateline has spent nearly a year seeking answers from them, through meetings with senior Defence officials and formal requests for information. But the ADF has hardly been forthcoming, even at the highest level.
AIR CHIEF MARSHAL ANGUS HOUSTON, CHIEF OF DEFENCE FORCE (13 SEP 2009): There was a lot of things that happened that night and we're investigating all aspects of it. Unfortunately I can't go into the detail of that, because I know you and I respect the integrity of that process.
Once Popal believed he had tracked the family down, he got in touch with Dateline. With his help, we went to Kabul last October and arranged to meet this man, Zahir Kahn. Dateline now has copies of his identification papers. Crucially, Defence has since confirmed to Dateline that this is the man they took away that night for interrogation. "I have been authorised ... to formally confirm the authenticity of Zahir Kahn ...". He says it was his brother, his teenage sister and four young children that were killed that night by Australian soldiers.
ZAHIR KAHN (Translation): My brother was here, in this long room. As they attacked, some were wounded and some were martyred.
Zahir Kahn claims he and his wife were asleep when the Australians broke down their bedroom door at around 2:00am.
ZAHIR KAHN (Translation): They held machine guns at me so I couldn't move. They then came and tied my arms up like this. Then they took me out onto the veranda. They blindfolded me and blocked my ears and they sat me down.
Kahn says it was after the soldiers dragged him out that he heard gunfire and explosions coming from the next room, where his brother's family was sleeping.
ZAHIR KAHN (Translation): No, I didn't see them. I was blindfolded. I just heard the shots. After that I was taken out of the house. They started the interrogation. They asked me if my brother was a Talib. I said he wasn't a Talib.
It was only upon his release from the Australian base that Zahir Kahn learnt about the deaths of his six relatives.
ZAHIR KAHN (Translation): Yes, why did they kill my people and cause me so much unjustified grief? Before attacking they should have asked the village, and asked the government, whether that person was a Talib or not. They should have asked around. Just because someone tells you "He's a Talib" would you barge into his house at night, kill six people and injure four for no reason?
We provided the ADF with images of Zahir Kahn and a transcript of his claims. They thanked Dateline "I would like to take this opportunity in thanking you for your assistance so far, and the material you have provided." and confirmed Zahir Kahn's list of those killed. They are Kahn's brother, Amrullah, and his 10-year-old son, a nephew, aged 11, Kahn's teenage sister and two babies - a 1-year-old boy and a 2-year-old girl - and Kahn's teenage sister. We told them that the Afghan community in Perth could put them in touch with the survivors of the raid. Two military investigators then met with Farid Popal.
FARID POPAL: Whatever I knew, I told them - how I've sort of, you know, tried to contact this family and also the materials I received, the footage, the videos, and also the documents I had in my possession. It would be better if somebody from Defence was to interview them and properly investigate this matter.
Popal then offered to bring the survivors to the investigators.
FARID POPAL: I basically gave them the option that we would be able to bring them somewhere to a neutral place, or some safe haven, where it's more convenient for the Defence staff to visit this family - such as Pakistan or Dubai or other countries - so they can make their own judgment as to whether there was excessive force used against the civilians, just to make all this clear.
Dateline understands the ADF investigators were keen to take up Farid Popal's offer. But bureaucratic red tape and security concerns cited by the Defence department prevented them from doing so and so, in late November last year, the investigators handed their brief over to the Director of Military Prosecutions.
LIEUTENANT GENERAL DAVID HURLEY, VICE-CHIEF OF DEFENCE FORCE (17 DEC 2009): She will determine what action she intends to take in relation to that report and essentially that's in her hands at the present time.
Popal was disappointed the survivors still hadn't been formally interviewed, so in January this year he set off to Afghanistan with a small video camera, flying straight into the war-torn southern city of Kandahar.
FARID POPAL: I'm in Kandahar now and we hear some shots and explosions.
It was here that Popal met up with Zahir Kahn for the first time. Kahn brought along his 5-year-old niece, Shuri Noor, who he says was injured on the night of the attack.
FARID POPAL: This is the little girl. She got injured.
Defence sources confirm this little girl was treated by Australian troops at their base.
FARID POPAL (Translation): What is your name?
SHURI NOOR: Shuri Noor.
FARID POPAL (Translation): Tell me again.
SHURI NOOR: Shuri Noor.
FARID POPAL (Translation): Shuri Noor? How old are you?
SHURI NOOR (Translation): I don't know.
FARID POPAL (Translation): She is very traumatised. She lost her father in the incident that has happened. She's just a child, you know? One night that we stayed in the same place at night-time she woke up and she was screaming and crying. It's not very easy for her to forget - even though she's five years old, she still remembers. She has to live with these scars for a long time.
Zahir Kahn wanted to take Farid Popal back to the family compound to interview other survivors of the attack, but it was too dangerous for an outsider to go. So Popal sent two trusted local men with his video camera and one of them filmed these images. This is Zahir Kahn's compound, in the village of Sur Murghab, where he says the attack occurred.
ZAHIR KAHN (Translation): This is my room. This is how I chain the door. They kicked it in. See the corner, it's broken. They stood at the door and I sat up. They came in, handcuffed me and took me outside.
MAN (Translation): Did they fire any shots here?
ZAHIR KAHN (Translation): No, they didn't.
MAN (Translation): I see.
ZAHIR KAHN (Translation): Not in my room. When they came out of my room they fired shots through this window over here. Through this window.
MAN (Translation): They shot through that?
ZAHIR KAHN (Translation): Yes, from there. My brother and the rest of the martyrs were asleep here.
This is the room where, Zahir Kahn says, six of his relatives were killed.
JAMELA (Translation): This is his home and everything here has been shot full of holes.
Kahn's sister, Jamela, claims she was also there that night.
JAMELA (Translation): My sister in-law was asleep here, the kids were over there. My brother was asleep there, right there. When they started firing my nephew stood up here. He stood up, said "What is it?" and they shot him.
SHAPERO (Translation): Some were rolling in their blood and some were dead.
ZAHIR KAHN (Translation): See? These are the kids. These two lived and this one was martyred.
JAMELA (Translation): Look at this girl. She was injured. Look at her wounds. Here, look here. It's here.
Fragments of bullets everywhere. There are cuts on this side too. Look at them. See, there are small wounds everywhere, here, there.
This woman, Shapero, is the wife of Zahir Kahn's dead brother, Amrullah. She says she was in the room when it came under attack.
SHAPERO (Translation): My white trousers and white dress were covered with the blood of my children. My oldest son was cut to pieces. My daughter was shot in the head and chest, and she died. We were all asked to sit over here. Some were rolling in their blood and the dead bodies were laid out over there.
It remains to be seen how these accounts tally with that of the Australian Defence Force, who claimed they had been fired upon by the Taliban - if and when they provide their version of what happened. The family says this phone video was filmed after Amrullah's body was returned by the Australians. This is the video.
JAMELA (Translation): Oh dead God! I would die for you, dear brother.
The women and children are apparently seeing it for the first time.
JAMELA (Translation): For the sake of God... Oh, for the sake of God, what wrong did we do? Oh, my dear brother! I would die for you.
One of many unanswered questions is why the Australian troops raided this particular compound on that night. The family rejects any suggestion that Amrullah was a member of the Taliban.
ZAHIR KAHN (Translation): A Talib will not sleep at home if he is a fighter and, if he is, security will watch over him. But we had no security and no-one watched over us. They took us out of bed and caused us all this misery.
MAN (Translation): There were no Taliban here?
ZAHIR KAHN (Translation): No.
MAN (Translation): Not even in the village?
ZAHIR KAHN (Translation): No, none.
Despite questions from Dateline, Defence has never revealed whether they may have raided the wrong compound on that night. But Shapero claims that immediately after the attack the Australian troops' translator admitted to her that they had made a mistake.
SHAPERO (Translation): They took us over here and ordered us to sit down. They started to treat the wounded. They said, "We made a mistake."
MAN (Translation): So they admitted they'd made a mistake?
SHAPERO (Translation): When they said that I asked, "Why destroy us?" And the blood of the wounded kept flowing. They took the photos, made a phone call and told me it was a mistake. They asked if he was Mullah Noorullah. I said he was Amrullah Senior. I asked the interpreter what they said. He said they made a mistake. They were meant to be in the other house. Instead of the house on the hill, they attacked us. "We made a mistake and attacked the wrong place." They then rushed to the wounded, my daughter and the others.
The ADF has declined to answer whether the Taliban leader Mullah Noorullah was their target that night, but Dateline understands he was. Three months later the Australians got their man.
IAN McPHEDRAN ('THE DAILY TELEGRAPH', 7 MAY 2009): "Elite Australian troops have claimed another key insurgent scalp in the Afghanistan campaign with the demise of Taliban commander Mullah Noorullah."
Dateline believes that in the days following the attack Australian soldiers gave US$10,000 to a local government official, a payment apparently intended to be passed on to this family as compensation for the deaths of their relatives. However, Zahir Kahn says they did not receive any of that money.
ZAHIR KAHN (Translation): No apologies were made and no compensation was paid. This is our cemetery and our martyrs are buried there.
This family has many questions for the Australian authorities about what happened on that devastating night.
AIR CHIEF MARSHAL ANGUS HOUSTON: That will come out in the investigation and that's what we're trying to get to the bottom of - is what precisely happened on the night. We had an inquiry - the inquiry looked into these aspects - but there were still some other factors that needed to be further investigated.
The ADF Investigative Service - ADFIS - was set up specifically to deal with cases like this. Parliamentary Secretary for Defence, Mike Kelly, toured the agency's headquarters when it was established in mid-2008.
ADFIS prides itself on conducting independent investigations into serious incidents involving Australian forces. But Dateline has learnt that in the 24 hours following the attack the commanders on the ground apparently declined to refer it to ADFIS for investigation and began to conduct their own inquiry. It then took nearly six months for the case to be finally handed over to ADFIS. Dateline has learnt that this delay caused serious disquiet within some Defence circles here in Canberra. One source told Dateline that if those involved had nothing to hide ADFIS would have been put onto the case within days of the incident.
ZAHIR KAHN (Translation): These are the clothes that were torn into pieces.
JAMELA (Translation): This is what my dearest sister was wearing. Look at it! She was newly wed. We want them back, our six martyrs. Why did they do that to us? What sin have we committed? None.
Dateline has cooperated with Defence throughout their investigation, spending hours with officials - and even the Director of Military Prosecutions - showing them our footage. But despite confirming the identity of Zahir Kahn, Defence still won't commit to interviewing these people and we have been told that any concerns over compensation or the welfare of the family are not relevant to their investigation.
Farid Popal believes that for justice to be delivered there needs to be more than a transparent and thorough investigation. He thinks the ADF has a responsibility to help these people rebuild their lives.
FARID POPAL: They are just as human being as what we are and just because they are living in that region doesn't mean that you could do injustice by them. They were ordinary people, living in their own house, and they died as a result of this incident. Those who were involved, in my opinion, need to be asked as to what happened, and that's what my community want and that is what Zahir Kahn told me he wants.
GEORGE NEGUS: Sophie McNeill reporting along with our chief producer, Geoff Parish. Late this week, the Defence department in Canberra supplied us with answers to a series of questions we'd put to them on this issue. They say "legal processes are continuing" and that the ADF military prosecutor will soon be announcing what action will be taken on the incident. Naturally, we'll be following this closely. Meanwhile, you can see our questions and the ADF responses in full on our website - sbs.com.au/dateline - along with plenty more on this week's stories, plus a chat with yours truly about the new season of Dateline.
Reporter/Camera
SOPHIE McNEILL
Producer
GEOFF PARISH
Fixer
ALI SAFI
Editor
DAVID POTTS
ENG Camera
TOM FINNIGAN
ENG Sound
CHRIS LEGGE
Translations/Subtitling
NASIBA AKRAM
Original Music Composed by
VICKIE HANSEN