16 dead after rampage by rogue US soldier

ALKOZAI, Sunday

An AFP reporter counted 16 bodies -- including women and children -- in three Afghan houses after a rogue US soldier walked out of his base and began shooting civilians early Sunday.

NATO's International Security Assistance Force said it had arrested a soldier "in connection to an incident that resulted in Afghan casualties in Kandahar province", without giving a figure for the dead or wounded.

"In one house, I saw 10 people, including women and children killed and burned in one room. Another woman was lying dead at the entrance of the house," the AFP reporter said from the scene in southern Kandahar province.

He saw "at least two children, two or three years old".

One other person died in a second house in Alkozai village while four more were killed in nearby Najeeban village, he said.\

In the house where one person was killed, an elderly woman was screaming: "May God kill the only son of (President Hamid) Karzai, so he feels what we feel."

The US embassy in Kabul issued a statement extending "its deepest condolences to the families of the victims of today's tragic shooting incident in Kandahar province.

"We are saddened by this violent act against our Afghan friends. We deplore any attack by a member of the US Armed Forces against innocent civilians, and denounce all violence against civilians.

"We assure the people of Afghanistan that the individual or individuals responsible for this act will be identified and brought to justice."