American Opens Fire on Afghans, 15 Dead

American Opens Fire on Afghans, 15 Dead: A member service of the United States withdrew from the base in southern Afghanistan before dawn Sunday and started shooting Afghan civilians, according to residents and Afghan officials and NATO. Local residents showed Associated Press photographer 15 bodies, including women and children, and said that they were killed by U.S..

Shooting may deepen the conflict between U.S. forces and their Afghan hosts a week of Muslim violence is caused by the burning of the holy book at the U.S. base began to disappear. The fires have caused violent protests and attacks, killing about 30 people. Six U.S. soldiers were killed in attacks by their Afghan counterparts to fire the Koran came to light.

NATO officials apologized for the shooting on Sunday, but did not confirm that each person has been killed, and not referring to reports of death.

"I express my deep regret and dismay at the actions apparently taken by members of the coalition in the province of Kandahar, said in a statement, Lieutenant-General Adrian Bradshaw, deputy commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan.

"One of our soldiers are reported killed and wounded several civilians in the villages adjacent to its base. I can not explain the motives of those ruthless actions, but they in no way part of ISAF approved military activities", he said, with the help of abbreviation for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force.

AP photographer saw 15 bodies between the two villages caught in the crossfire. Some of the bodies were burned and others were covered with blankets. The boy is partially wrapped in a blanket was in the back of a van, a crust of dried blood on his face and pooled in the ear. His big brown pants were partially burned, charred leg opening fire.

Residents packed inside a van with concern, as the woman spoke with reporters. She pulled back the blanket to reveal the body of a young child to wear something like red pajamas. The third dead child lying in the middle of the green pile of blankets on the bed of the truck.

Afghan officials and residents of the 16 people were killed, but there was no way to immediately reconcile the number of deaths.

NATO spokesman Justin Brockhoff said a member of the service of the United States was held at the NATO base, as the alleged killer. The wounded were evacuated to medical facilities of NATO, he added.

The attack took place in two villages in the Panjwaii district of Kandahar province. The villages - and Balandi Alkozai - about 500 meters (yards) from the American base. The shooting began about 3:00, said Asadullah Khalid, a government official in southern Afghanistan, as well as a member of the delegation who went to investigate the incident.

Villagers Alkozai Abdul Baqi, told the AP, which, based on the accounts of their neighbors, the American shooter went to three different houses and opened fire.

"When it happened in the middle of the night, we were in our homes. I heard gunshots, then silence, and then shooting again," said Bucky. There was no immediate verification of his account.

Helicopters circled overhead, a delegation from the post of governor of Kandahar province, Tooryalai Wesa arrived in the area to determine exactly what happened. There have been reports of protests in Panjwayi after the shooting and the U.S. Embassy warned travelers in the province of Kandahar, "caution".

International forces fought for control of the Panjwai for many years as they tried to rein in Taliban in their rural stronghold. The Taliban began north of the Panjwai and the surrounding area, it was felt that the city of Kandahar to the east, where U.S. troops have flooded the province as part of the strategy of President Barack Obama to a sharp rise in the south since 2009.

Khalid, a government official, said that there were 16 deaths, which number corresponds to the accounts of residents.

Twelve killed Balandi said Samad Khan, a farmer who lost all 11 members of his family, including women and children. Khan was outside the village during the incident and returned to find his family members were shot and burned. My neighbor was killed, he said.

"This is an anti-human and anti-Islamic," said Khan. "Nobody has the right to any religion in the world, kill children and women."

Khan demanded that the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, to punish the American shooter.

"Otherwise, we will make a decision," said Khan. "It must be returned to us."

Villagers Alkozai also demanded that Karzai is punishing America or the transfer of its inhabitants. Four people were killed in the village all one family, one parent said the woman screamed in anger. She did not mention his name because of the conservative nature of local society.

"There were Taliban here. No shooting is happening," said the woman. "We do not know why this is the foreign soldiers came and killed our innocent family members. Either he was drunk, and he enjoyed the killing of civilians."

The Taliban called the shooting a sign that international forces are working against the Afghan people.

"The so-called peacekeepers, Americans once again quench the thirst of the blood of innocent Afghan civilians in Kandahar province," the Taliban said in a statement posted on a website used by rebel groups.

American forces were involved in other forms of violence in the same area.

Four Stryker Brigade soldiers Lewis McChord, Washington, were sent to prison in connection with the 2010 murders of three unarmed men on patrol in Kandahar province in the Maiwand district, located in the northeast of the western Panjwaii. They were accused of forming the "kill team" who killed Afghan civilians for sport - the slaughter of the victim with powerful grenades and machine guns during a patrol, and then lay down their arms around their body to seem to have been combatants.

And in January, before the incident of burning of the Koran, a video that allegedly shows U.S. marines urinated on the bodies of people they killed sparked a wave of indignation.

U.S. President Barack Obama has apologized for the fires of the Koran and said that they were wrong.