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According to The New York Times, eyewitnesses reported seeing a U.S. service member firing on several houses and a number of Afghan civilians. Villagers in the small district of Panjway said eleven people were killed in one house, and four others were gunned down in a second one.
The governor of Kandahar Province, Tooryalai Wesa, condemned the shooting, although he could not immediately confirm the number of people killed. A coalition spokesman in Kabul, Capt. Justin Brockhoff, said that it was not clear what had led to the incident. He said the civilians wounded in the shooting were taken to a coalition hospital where they were being treated.One of the houses attacked in the
village belonged to a tribal elder, according to a person from the village. “We don’t know why he killed people,” said the villager, Aminullah, who like many Afghans goes by a single name. Aminullah said the soldier was alone. “There was no fighting or attacks.”
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The U.S. embassy in Afghanistan released a statement saying that “[t]he United States extends its deepest condolences to the families of the victims of today’s tragic shooting incident in Kandahar province.” The statement emphasized the importance of maintaining a good relationship between the United States and Afghanistan. This incident comes of the heels of a controversial Quran burning by U.S. forces last month and violent backlash from the Muslim world.