U.S troops opened fire on Afghan highway

On March 4, 2007 sixteen Afghan civilians died from U.S. troop's open fire on a highway in KABUL, Afghanistan. The United States military said that the unit came under fire after a suicide bomber detonated his explovise-lader car near their convoy. The unit returned fire, and civilians were killed an injured during the cross-fire battle. Some of the wounded civilians interviewed in the hospital by news agencies said that the only shooting came from the American troops. “They were firing everywhere, and they even opened fire on 14 to 15 vehicales passing on the highway,” said Tur Gul, who was standing on the roadside by a gas station and got shot twice in his right hand. “They opened fire on everybody, the ones inside the vehicles and the ones on foot.” A 15-year-old injured civilian said “When we parked our vehicle, when they passed us, they opened fire on our vehicle. It was a convoy of three American Humvess. All three Humvees were firing around.” The wounded civilians said that the American troops fried indiscriminately on passing cars and pedestrians on the busy main road. A hospital official who asked not to be identified said that all the wounded were suffering from bullet wounds and not shrapnel from the bomb explosion. Among the 16 death in this incident were a woman and two children in their early teens

After the shooting, hundreds of Afghans blocked the road and threw rocks at police officers in protest. Some demonstrators were shouting “Death to America! Death to Karzai!” This shooting will be a setback for American forces to contain insurgent attacks in Afghanistan.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/05/world/asia/05afghan.html?_r=1&ref=worldspecial&oref=slogin