RBP
03-15-2012, 10:14 AM
http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/15/world/asia/afghanistan-shooting/?hpt=hp_t1
Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Afghans took to the streets Thursday to demand a U.S. soldier accused of killing 16 civilians be prosecuted in Afghanistan as word spread that the American military moved him out of the country.
The protest came as U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta met with Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Kabul, where the subject of the alleged killings and the recent burning of Qurans by U.S. troops was expected to top discussions.
Panetta was wrapping up a two-day trip, the first by a high-ranking American official since Sunday's killings in the Panjwai district of Afghanistan's Kandahar province. Panetta's trip was scheduled before the attacks.
Protesters gathered in Qalat, a city near the two villages at the center of the rampage, in a demonstration organized by religious leaders, according to Muhammad Jan Rasuli, the deputy governor of the Zabul province.
The protesters chanted anti-American slogans, called for justice and demanded the soldier be publicly prosecuted in Afghanistan.
Bombings greet Panetta in Afghanistan
The unidentified Army staff sergeant was transferred on the recommendation of advisers to Gen. John Allen, the commander of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force.
"We do not have the proper facility in Afghanistan to detain him for longer than he is being held," said Capt. John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman.
White House: Only one shooter in Afghan
A defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the man was flown to Kuwait, which has the U.S. military legal infrastructure and personnel to deal with the suspect. The official was not authorized to release details to the media.
The alleged killings have provoked outrage, with the Taliban threatening to behead Americans, and Karzai calling the shootings "acts of terror and unforgivable."
The soldier is accused of leaving the remote outpost of Camp Belambay on foot early Sunday and heading to neighboring villages outside the base.
In the villages, the soldier opened fire as he went house to house, killing nine children, three women and four men, witnesses and Afghan authorities said. The U.S. military has not confirmed the number of casualties.
The soldier, who is based at Joint Base Lewis-McChord near Tacoma, Washington, belongs to the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, according to a congressional source who was not authorized to speak publicly.
He was on his first tour to Afghanistan, but had deployed to Iraq three times. In 2010, he'd suffered a traumatic brain injury in a vehicle accident. But few details have surfaced about motive or why an infantryman would turn his gun on civilians.
Military authorities have presented a determination of probable cause to allow them to keep the sergeant in detention, an International Security Assistance Force official told CNN.
Meanwhile, an Afghan man who stole a vehicle that exploded Wednesday after he crashed it near the runway at Camp Bastion about the same time Panetta arrived has died from his injuries, Lt. Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti told reporters.
The Afghan was wearing a "desert utility uniform," similar to the ones coalition troops give to translators and other unarmed locals working with them, a defense official said. Coalition troops searched the man after putting out the flames and apprehending him, but they did not find an explosive device on him, according to the official. No motive or the Afghan's intent was known
Despite some protests and local violence, the country has not erupted the way it did last month when American troops burned copies of the Quran and other Islamic religious materials. Military officials said the materials had been seized from Afghan prisoners because they contained extremist messages.
Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Afghans took to the streets Thursday to demand a U.S. soldier accused of killing 16 civilians be prosecuted in Afghanistan as word spread that the American military moved him out of the country.
The protest came as U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta met with Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Kabul, where the subject of the alleged killings and the recent burning of Qurans by U.S. troops was expected to top discussions.
Panetta was wrapping up a two-day trip, the first by a high-ranking American official since Sunday's killings in the Panjwai district of Afghanistan's Kandahar province. Panetta's trip was scheduled before the attacks.
Protesters gathered in Qalat, a city near the two villages at the center of the rampage, in a demonstration organized by religious leaders, according to Muhammad Jan Rasuli, the deputy governor of the Zabul province.
The protesters chanted anti-American slogans, called for justice and demanded the soldier be publicly prosecuted in Afghanistan.
Bombings greet Panetta in Afghanistan
The unidentified Army staff sergeant was transferred on the recommendation of advisers to Gen. John Allen, the commander of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force.
"We do not have the proper facility in Afghanistan to detain him for longer than he is being held," said Capt. John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman.
White House: Only one shooter in Afghan
A defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the man was flown to Kuwait, which has the U.S. military legal infrastructure and personnel to deal with the suspect. The official was not authorized to release details to the media.
The alleged killings have provoked outrage, with the Taliban threatening to behead Americans, and Karzai calling the shootings "acts of terror and unforgivable."
The soldier is accused of leaving the remote outpost of Camp Belambay on foot early Sunday and heading to neighboring villages outside the base.
In the villages, the soldier opened fire as he went house to house, killing nine children, three women and four men, witnesses and Afghan authorities said. The U.S. military has not confirmed the number of casualties.
The soldier, who is based at Joint Base Lewis-McChord near Tacoma, Washington, belongs to the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, according to a congressional source who was not authorized to speak publicly.
He was on his first tour to Afghanistan, but had deployed to Iraq three times. In 2010, he'd suffered a traumatic brain injury in a vehicle accident. But few details have surfaced about motive or why an infantryman would turn his gun on civilians.
Military authorities have presented a determination of probable cause to allow them to keep the sergeant in detention, an International Security Assistance Force official told CNN.
Meanwhile, an Afghan man who stole a vehicle that exploded Wednesday after he crashed it near the runway at Camp Bastion about the same time Panetta arrived has died from his injuries, Lt. Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti told reporters.
The Afghan was wearing a "desert utility uniform," similar to the ones coalition troops give to translators and other unarmed locals working with them, a defense official said. Coalition troops searched the man after putting out the flames and apprehending him, but they did not find an explosive device on him, according to the official. No motive or the Afghan's intent was known
Despite some protests and local violence, the country has not erupted the way it did last month when American troops burned copies of the Quran and other Islamic religious materials. Military officials said the materials had been seized from Afghan prisoners because they contained extremist messages.