US marines violated international humanitarian law by using excessive violence in reaction to a suicide bomb attack in Afghanistan, a report says.

At least 12 civilians died and 35 were injured during the incident which took place on 4 March in Nangarhar province.

The report, published by Afghanistan's Human Rights Commission, said the reaction was disproportionate.

The special command unit used "indiscriminate force", it says, killing both women and children.

The findings of the report echo those of the US military's own initial investigation which concluded that the marines' response "was out of proportion to the threat that was immediately there".

Deleted footage

The Afghan report said that, in failing to distinguish between civilian and legitimate military targets, the US marine corps used "indiscriminate force".

"Their actions thus constitute a serious violation of international humanitarian law standards," it said.

The US said that the Nangarhar fighting, near the city of Jalalabad, started when a convoy of marines was attacked by a suicide bomber and came under co-ordinated small-arms fire.

But the Afghan report said that the evidence of a complex ambush involving militant gunmen who fired on the convoy was "far from conclusive".

According to the authors of the report, who spoke to victims, police and hospital officials as well as eyewitnesses, the marines fired indiscriminately on civilians and their vehicles as they left the scene.

Journalists said that US soldiers deleted footage, including photos and videos, showing the aftermath of the Nangarhar violence.

The soldiers, serving under the Nato-led Isaf force, were moved out of Afghanistan after the incident.

PHOTO CAPTION

Afghan men carry the body of a civilian who, they said was killed by American soldiers after a car bomber attacked an American convoy in Barikaw in Nangarhar province, eastern Afghanistan, in this March 4, 2007, file photo. (AP)

BBC