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'They opened fire on everybody'

By TIMES WIRES
Published March 5, 2007

KABUL, Afghanistan - A suicide bombing aimed at an American military convoy triggered a chaotic round of gunfire on a busy highway in eastern Afghanistan Sunday, leaving at least eight Afghan civilians dead and about three dozen others wounded, officials said.

The incident, which occurred outside the city of Jalalabad, set off a stone-throwing riot in which hundreds of protesters claiming that U.S. troops fired indiscriminately on civilians shouted slogans denouncing the United States and the government of President Hamid Karzai.

It was the highest civilian death toll this year in an incident involving U.S. or other foreign troops. Such casualties erode public support for Karzai's government, and the Afghan president has repeatedly appealed to allied forces to exercise greater care.

The incident occurred as a five-vehicle U.S. convoy was on patrol near the Jalalabad airfield, a large base that lies just off a heavily traveled highway between the Pakistan border and Kabul, the Afghan capital.

U.S. military officials said American forces opened fire after a suicide attacker detonated a minivan packed with explosives as the convoy passed through the small market town of Bari Kot, whose bazaar was filled with morning shoppers.

Calling the ambush "complex," the military said that, simultaneously with the suicide attack, U.S. troops came under small-arms fire from several directions.

'Firing everywhere'

Witnesses, however, said gunfire in the wake of the explosion appeared to come mainly from U.S. troops whose convoy sped along the highway shooting in the direction of other vehicles and pedestrians for up to 5 miles from the blast scene.

"They were firing everywhere," said Tur Gul, who was standing at the roadside and suffered gunshot wounds. He said he saw more than a dozen cars hit. "They opened fire on everybody, the ones inside the vehicles and the ones on foot."

Allied military officials blamed the Taliban for the civilian casualties, saying the attackers bore responsibility whether bystanders were hit by fire from U.S. troops or insurgents.

Lt. Col. David Accetta, the top U.S. military spokesman in Afghanistan, said gunmen may have fired on U.S. forces at multiple points during the escape. He said it was not yet clear how the casualties happened, though he left open the possibility that U.S. forces had shot civilians.

"We regret the death of innocent Afghan citizens as a result of the Taliban extremists' cowardly act," he said.

Casualty counts varied. Provincial police spokesman Abdul Ghafor said 10 people were killed and about three dozen injured. The U.S. military initially reported 34 civilians killed and 24 wounded, but later revised its death toll downward to eight, with 35 hurt. A U.S. serviceman also was wounded.

The incident caused an uproar in a country that has seen an untold number of civilians killed by international forces since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001.

The U.S.-based Human Rights Watch estimates that more than 100 Afghan civilians died as a result of NATO and coalition assaults in 2006. An Associated Press tally, based on reports from Afghan, NATO and coalition officials, puts the overall civilian death toll in 2006 at 834, most from militant attacks.

Interior Ministry spokesman Zemeri Bashary said the chief of the Interior Ministry's criminal division would take a delegation, including a U.S.-led coalition official, to Nangarhar province today to investigate. "The coalition says they have proof that gunmen opened fire. But I think more of the gunfire was from the (U.S.) side," Bashary said.

Nine witnesses

In all, nine witnesses said that U.S. forces fired indiscriminately along one of eastern Afghanistan's busiest highways - a route often filled not only with cars and trucks but Afghans on foot and bicycles.

At the Jalalabad hospital, several victims said the American convoy approached them on the highway and opened fire. As the convoy neared, many cars pulled over to the side of the road, but were still hit by gunfire.

"When we parked our vehicle, when they passed us, they opened fire on our vehicle," said 15-year-old Mohammad Ishaq, who was hit by two bullets. "It was a convoy of three American Humvees."

U.S. forces deleted photos of a bullet-riddled vehicle taken by a freelance photographer working for the Associated Press and video taken by a freelancer working for AP Television News.

[Last modified March 5, 2007, 01:39:13]