Afghan demonstrators throw stones at a coalition military vehicle during a demonstration in Kabul. Gunfire broke out in the centre of the Afghan capital as violent demonstrations erupted and hundreds of people took to the streets after at least four civilians were shot dead by US troops, witnesses said.
(AFP) |
Rioting and gunfire broke out in the centre of the Afghan capital, with violent demonstrations by hundreds of people in the streets after US troops shot dead at least four civilians, witnesses said.
Several volleys of gunfire were heard near the diplomatic quarter as around 1,000 people marched towards the area chanting "Death to America" and "Death to (President Hamid) Karzai", an AFP reporter said.
"We are hearing a lot of gunshots," UN employee Marina Walter said from a government office in the centre of the city. The United Nations ordered all its employees to stay where they were and declared the city a no-go zone, she said.
The marchers torched a police box in the centre of the city and a large poster of Karzai, an AFP photographer said.
Some of the demonstrators were also beating journalists, he said.
A chanting crowd of about 100 people had also gathered outside the main emergency hospital, to which some of the those wounded in the earlier incident involving US troops had been brought, an AFP reporter there said.
Police, soldiers and troops from the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force were arriving, he said.
There were reports of other demonstrations and gunfire in other areas of the city, including outside the Serena Hotel, which is just across the road from the presidential palace. Security forces appeared to have stopped all traffic.
The unrest erupted after US troops shot dead at least four people when they opened fire on a crowd of Afghans after a traffic accident with a US military vehicle.
"There was a military flatbed truck which had a mechanical failure, maybe a brake problem, and it crashed into some civilian vehicles," Lieutenant Tamara Lawrence said.
An angry mob then torched a police station and vehicles in protest, prompting Afghan police to start shooting. Local media put the number of dead at between 20 and 30 but this could not be immediately confirmed.
An intelligence officer who did not want to be identified said initial reports were that seven people had been killed in the shootout with the US soldiers and nine wounded.
"We have absolutely no reports of coalition forces firing," said a US coalition spokesman, Colonel Tom Collins.
"These traitors killed at least 10 people. Death to them," a protestor named Ahmadullah said told an AFP reporter, referring to the American troops.
Another said: "These cowards opened fire into the crowd and killed them like sheep. First they drove into the people's cars, destroyed them and then fired onto the people who were only throwing stones at them.
"They are not brave soldiers. They are just backstreet, bad-driving thugs. They think Afghanistan is a playground where they can practise shooting," he said, without giving his name.
"We have absolutely no reports of coalition forces firing," said a US coalition spokesman, Colonel Tom Collins.
ISAF said it had some reports that warning shots were fired.
"We have unconfirmed reports that some warning shots were fired but I can't confirm who those warning shots were fired by," Major Toby Jackman said.
The accident had damaged about 12 vehicles and killed one person, with two others in a critical state, he said.
Jackman said the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) had despatched a helicopter to the area but was told to leave.
The chopper "had to take off again on the request of the police -- it was not helping with the crowd situation," Jackman said.
ISAF had units on hand to assist local forces but "the situation with the crowd needs to calm down a bit... we don't want to enflame the situation," he said.
The Afghan parliament broke off regular business and went into an emergency session to discuss the violence, calling for calm.
The interior ministry set up a team to go to the area to establish the number of dead and wounded.
The incident comes just over a week after a major coalition strike against Taliban insurgents in the south of Afghanistan. The country's main human rights group said that attack killed about 34 civilians.
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