US News

Taliban vows revenge against US forces over Afghan civilian murders

KABUL — Afghanistan’s Taliban insurgents vowed revenge Monday against “sick-minded American savages” after a US soldier killed 16 villagers in their homes, while the Afghan parliament demanded the perpetrator be put on public trial in the country.

The Taliban will “take revenge from the invaders and the savage murderers for every single martyr,” the hardline Islamist group said in a statement on their website.

“If the perpetrators of this massacre were in fact mentally ill then this testifies to yet another moral transgression by the American military because they are arming lunatics in Afghanistan who turn their weapons against the defenseless Afghans without giving a second thought,” the statement said.

Meanwhile, in a statement released to AFP on Monday, Afghanistan’s lower house of parliament said, “We seriously demand and expect that the government of the United States punish the culprits and try them in a public trial before the people of Afghanistan.”

US SEEKS TO CONTAIN DAMAGE FROM AFGHAN SHOOTING

The American soldier allegedly left his base in the Panjway district of Kandahar province and walked about a mile to a nearby village, where he went on a house-to-house rampage during the early hours of Sunday.

Nine of the 16 fatalities were children and three were women, Afghan officials said. They also said some of the bodies were found to be charred.

Senior US officials told FOX News Channel the shooter was a US Army staff sergeant based out of Joint Base Lewis-McChord, near Tacoma, Wash. — about 45 miles (70km) south of Seattle. The soldier, who has not yet been identified, is in US custody.

An Afghan man recounted on Monday the terrifying scene in his home as the lone soldier moved stealthily through it during a killing spree, then crouched down and shot his father in the thigh as he stepped out of the bedroom.

“He was walking around taking up positions in the house — in two or three places like he was searching,” said 26-year-old witness Mohammad Zahir, who watched the gunman while hiding in another room. “He was on his knees when he shot my father” in the thigh, he told The Associated Press. His father was wounded but survived.

Zahir recounted the harrowing scene in his family home when the soldier came in before dawn.

“I heard a gunshot. When I came out of my room, somebody entered our house. He was in a NATO forces uniform. I didn’t see his face because it was dark,” he said.

Zahir said he quickly went into another room in the house, where animals are penned.

“After that, I saw him moving to different areas of the house — like he was searching,” he said.

His father, unarmed, then took a few steps out of his bedroom door, Zahir recalled.

“He was not holding anything — not even a cup of tea,” Zahir said. Then he fired.

“My mother was pulling my father into the room. I put a cloth on his wound,” he said.

After the gunman left, Zahir said he heard gunshots near the house again. He stayed in hiding for a few minutes to make sure he was gone.

According to The New York Times, he was part of a “village stabilization operation” supporting teams of elite Green Berets in developing ties with Afghan village elders and police units, as part of an attempt to track down members of the Taliban in the south of the country.

Pentagon spokesman Capt. John Kirby said the solder is married with two children and was on his first mission in Afghanistan. He also said he was aged in his mid-30s and was deployed to Iraq twice.

A joint Afghan-coalition investigation was launched into the shooting, and it remained unclear what the shooter’s motives were or whether he had previous contact with his victims. Officials said they believe the soldier acted alone.

Karzai reacted with anger to the incident, saying, “When the Americans are killing civilians intentionally, this is called terror and it is an unforgivable act.”

The attack sparked fears about worsening tensions between the US and Kabul, weeks after protests erupted across Afghanistan in response to the burning of Korans at a US base.

On the sidelines of a UN meeting on Syria Monday, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton described the killings as “awful,” saying she “can’t even imagine the impact on the families who were subject to this attack and the loss of children.”

“We recognize that an incident like this is inexplicable and will certainly cause many questions to be asked,” Clinton told reporters, though she affirmed that the US remains “committed to the goals we and our partners have set forth” in the country.