As the question of whether one rogue or more than one rogue soldier killed 16 civilians and then gathered and torched their bodies , a pattern of acts over the past year or so serves to cast doubt on US intentions and any repeated apologies for mistakes made...

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/afghans-vow-vengeance-for-soldiers-killing-spree-7561637.html

Distraught and furious Afghans vowed vengeance yesterday after a US soldier apparently walked from a Nato base into the homes of civilians, turning his weapon on the families inside and killing 16 people, nine of them children.

The Afghan Ministry of Interior has urged people to show restraint until investigators have completed their inquiry, but concerns are mounting that the incident will re-ignite violent protests that swept Afghanistan last month after US servicemen burnt copies of the Koran at Bagram Air Base, north of Kabul.

Nazim Shah returned to his home in Panjwai district from a trip to Kandahar to find his entire family killed. Sobbing into the phone, he told The Independent: "All my family is dead ... We will get revenge on those who killed my family. We won't let this rest easily." The attack comes at a crucial time, as President Hamid Karzai and US officials, under strained relations, negotiate a future role for foreign forces after Nato troops hand over security to Afghan forces in 2014.

Witnesses and officials gave differing accounts of yesterday's events, but it appears that the soldier, as yet unnamed, left the joint US-Afghan Zangebad base at about 3am. He walked to the villages of Balandi and Alkozai, about a kilometre away, and began the killings which left nine children, three women and four men dead. Five more were wounded.

"The US soldier attacked three different houses, killing 11 people in the first house, four in the second house and one in the third house," said Mahammad, a tribal elder in Panjwai. "The 11 people who were first shot dead were brought together in one home and the soldier put pillows, sticks and blankets on them and burnt them." Photographs of the victims showed burn injuries.

General Carsten Jacobson, spokesman for the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf), confirmed that the soldier went back to the base and gave himself up, and was in detention. Reports suggest he is an army staff sergeant, although most of the soldiers at Zangebad are Special Forces troops, according to an Afghan official familiar with the facility.

American officials were swift to try to limit the damage, with the US commander in Afghanistan, General John Allen, issuing a statement pledging a "rapid and thorough investigation" with anyone found to have committed wrongdoing to be held "fully accountable". President Barack Obama called the attack "tragic and shocking".

Mr Karzai – who said the death toll was 16, which Nato has yet to confirm – sent a high-level delegation from the ministries of defence and interior, the National Directorate of Security and the National Security Council to investigate. In a statement, he strongly condemned the incident, which he called "an intentional act" against civilians.

Nato officials will now have to wait to see whether the promise of investigations will be enough, or whether the incident will spark another round of retribution and bloodshed.

Haji Aghalalai Dastgiri, an elder from Panjwai and a member of Kandahar's provincial council, told The Independent that the local mood was very black. "People have been gathering to discuss this," he said. "They will probably approach the Kandahar governor's office to discuss this with him. If he does not provide a satisfactory response, people may protest in the streets."

Samad Khan, a farmer who said he lost all 11 members of his family, told the Associated Press that villagers would demand the Americans hand over the shooter – a demand that will not be met – before deciding what action to take. "This is an anti-human and anti-Islamic act," said Mr Khan. "Nobody is allowed, in any religion in the world, to kill children and women." Haji Dastgiri said that witnesses had described the US soldier as "in a bad mood" and said that he "appeared drunk". Most described the shooting as the work of a single man, although some reports said more than one soldier was involved. The Taliban, keen to exploit the propaganda coup the killings offered, claimed that "50 civilians [were] martyred by American terrorists". It called the incident an "act of genocide".

The US embassy in Kabul tweeted a warning to people in Kandahar. Last month, after US servicemen accidentally burned Korans, 30 Afghans were killed in demonstrations, six Isaf soldiers were killed by members of the Afghan security forces who turned on them in apparent revenge and two US military advisers were shot dead.

In 2010, in Kandahar province, a group of US soldiers murdered at least three Afghans and collected their body parts as trophies. Eleven soldiers were convicted on various charges.

Timeline: inflammatory actions that sparked a year of violence

20 March 2011

Florida Pastor Terry Jones douses a Koran in kerosene and sets fire to it after a mock trial. There is a violent backlash in Afghanistan and at least 14 people, including seven UN workers, are killed in the city of Mazar-e-Sharif, as well as 10 others in Kandahar.

7 January 2012

An Afghan investigative commission accuses the US military of abuse at the Parwan detention centre outside Bagram airbase. President Karzai demands that the US turns over all suspected militants to Afghan custody and free those being held without evidence
.

11 January 2012

A video emerges showing what is believed to be four US Marines urinating on the corpses of three Taliban fighters. President Hamid Karzai condemns the actions as "completely inhuman" and Pentagon officials promise a criminal investigation.

8 February 2012

Eight young Afghans are killed in a Nato bombing in Kapisa province. The government releases gruesome photographs of the dead boys, seven of whom it says are aged between six and 14 and one around 18. Nato later admits the mistake, describing it as "very sad".

20 February 2012

Afghan workers on Bagram airbase find scorched Korans in piles of rubbish. The discovery sparks violence across the region in which around 30 Afghans and six US soldiers are killed. In one incident, two senior US officers are gunned down in the high-security interior ministry.

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And this version of the event tells a far different story  - was there one shooter but other soldiers sent in to cover his tracks ? Why would one soldier leave his bast at 3am to go to a village ( by himself ) anyway ?  Could one soldier kill and wound 21 people then gather their bodies and try to torch the bodies - where did he find and fuel and why would he be concerned with covering his tracks anyway ? 

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2012\03\12\story_12-3-2012_pg1_6

KANDAHAR: Western forces shot dead 16 civilians including nine children in southern Kandahar province on Sunday, Afghan officials said, in a rampage that witnesses said was carried out by American soldiers who were laughing and appeared drunk.

One Afghan father who said his children were killed in the shooting spree accused soldiers of later burning the bodies. Witnesses told Reuters they saw a group of US soldiers arrive at their village in Kandahar’s Panjwayi district at around 2am, enter homes and open fire. The incident, one of the worst of its kind since the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, is likely to deepen the divide between Washington and Kabul. The US embassy in Kabul said an American soldier had been detained over the shooting. It added that anti-US reprisals were possible following the killings.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai called it an “assassination” and furiously demanded an explanation from Washington. His office said the dead included nine children and three women. An Afghan minister earlier told Reuters that a lone US soldier had killed up to 16 people when he burst into homes in villages near his base in the middle of the night. Panjwayi district is about 35 km west of the provincial capital Kandahar city. The district is considered the spiritual home of the Taliban and is believed to be a hive of insurgent activity.

Haji Samad said 11 of his relatives were killed in one house, including his children. Pictures showed blood-splattered walls where the children were killed. “They (Americans) poured chemicals over their dead bodies and burned them,” a weeping Samad told Reuters at the scene. “I saw that all 11 of my relatives were killed, including my children and grandchildren,” said Samad, who had left the home a day earlier. Neighbours said they awoke to crackling gunfire from American soldiers, whom they described as laughing and drunk.

“They were all drunk and shooting all over the place,” said neighbour Agha Lala, who visited one of the homes where the incident took place. “Their bodies were riddled with bullets.” A senior US defence official said Defence Secretary Leon Panetta “was deeply saddened to hear last night of this incident and is closely monitoring reports out of Afghanistan.” The White House also expressed concern.

The Afghan Taliban would take revenge for the deaths, the group said in an e-mailed statement to media. The US embassy in Kabul said an investigation was under way into Sunday’s shooting and that “the individual or individuals responsible for this act will be identified and brought to justice”. The commander of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) General John Allen said he was “shocked and saddened” by the shooting, and promised a rapid investigation. reuters