In early November incident in the northern Kunduz Province of Afghanistan resulted in the deaths of 33 Afghan civilians, a Pentagon military investigation concluded in a new report issued today. The troops ordered airstrikes against the village of Boz, and the bombings killed large numbers of civilians within.

The report was quick to shrug off the civilian casualties, insisting that the troops “acted in self defense,” and that they are clearing the troops of any wrongdoing for calling in airstrikes against civilian homes within a village, presenting it as an appropriate response.

The investigation centered its justification on claims that Taliban forces had fired on troops, and might well have been within any given house in the village, concluding that bombing all the houses was the “minimum force required” to neutralize “various threats” they might conceivably be under.

Though the report admitted that the 33 civilians were killed in the course of the airstrikes against their homes, they insisted no civilians were seen during the course of “the battle,” which is unsurprising, since they were all inside their houses until they were subsequently buried in rubble.