Deaths feared after Afghans riot after US troops kill four civilians

By Waheedullah Massoud

05/29/06 "AFP" -- -- KABUL -- Riots and gunfire broke out in the Afghan capital on Monday with people feared dead in violent demonstrations that erupted after US troops shot dead at least four civilians, witnesses said.

Several volleys of gunfire over about two hours were heard near the diplomatic quarter as around 1,000 people marched toward the US embassy chanting "Death to America" and "Death to [President Hamid] Karzai", an AFP reporter said.

Mohammad Shoib, an eyewitness, said that he had seen Afghan soldiers shoot dead two rioters trying to break through a police cordon and move into an area that includes the presidential palace and UN offices.

Troops apparently opened fire into the air to stop the demonstrators but later shot into the crowd, he said.

A kindergarten near the offices of aid agency Care International was set ablaze along with a restaurant in the city, witnesses said, while a pall of smoke hung over the city.

Private television station Ariana reported that several vehicles in front of its office were burning, and protestors armed with large sticks were trying to enter the compound.

The station had called for the defense ministry to send troops to control the situation, an announcer said.

A mob had earlier gathered outside the British embassy and tried to force its way into Wazir Akbar Khan, where most of the city's embassies and international organizations are based.

They were held back by scores of soldiers who were blocking the main roads to the area, an AFP reporter on the scene said.

"We are hearing a lot of gunshots," UN employee Marina Walter said from a government office in the center of the city.

The United Nations ordered its employees into bunkers or safe zones and declared the city a no-go zone, she said.

About 1,000 marchers, some armed with knives, bats and old swords, torched police posts in the center of the city and a large poster of Karzai, an AFP photographer said.

One marcher said: "Where are the Americans?"

Television pictures showed that some of the rioters were teenagers, some of whom were smashing cars.

A chanting crowd of about 100 people had also gathered outside the main emergency hospital, where some of those wounded in the earlier incident involving US troops had been taken.

Police, soldiers and troops from the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force arrived, he said.

There were reports of 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 in the city center.

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.

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 that 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.
 

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