'The defense lawyer for Robert Bales, who is accused of killing 17 Afghan civilians, is blaming the US for blocking his team’s fact-finding mission into the Kandahar incident. He says he can’t interview witnesses and prosecutors won’t cooperate.

­John Henry Browne claims US forces in Afghanistan obstructed him and his associates from reaching the injured civilians at a hospital in Kandahar province to interview them on the matter, Reuters reports. He added that other possible witnesses were allowed to get away, with little possibility of finding them now. According to Browne, after investigators interviewed those injured, they let them go freely without leaving any contact information, and they are not sharing data they obtained from the witnesses with his team. He says Bales' defense has only managed to talk to US soldiers in Afghanistan, but no witnesses.

Bales’ lawyer also regretted that investigators withheld images captured by a surveillance camera on a blimp above the base, which the Army says shows Bales returning after the alleged shooting.'

Read more: Afghan Massacre Investigation Blocked by US