Ouch. When you work for the State, there is a chance they lied to you to get you to do the otherwise impossible. Conversely, there could have been an actual threat to the State in the village, but the State decided it was too much effort to figure out all the specific problematic parties and just do collective punishment. If you are ordered to wipe out an entire location, chances are good that the situation is collective punishment at best.
Ouch. When you work for the State, there is a chance they lied to you to get you to do the otherwise impossible. Conversely, there could have been an actual threat to the State in the village, but the State decided it was too much effort to figure out all the specific problematic parties and just do collective punishment. If you are ordered to wipe out an entire location, chances are good that the situation is collective punishment at best.