AFGHANISTAN:Sixteen Afghan civilians were killed after a "complex" Taliban ambush on a US convoy, involving a suicide car bomb attack and militant gunfire, the US military in Afghanistan said yesterday.
Afghan authorities said 10 civilians were killed and more than 30 wounded - at least eight when US troops opened fire after the blast. They said they were not aware of the convoy coming under fire from gunmen after the blast.
Hundreds of angry Afghans protested after the violence, blocking the road near the eastern city of Jalalabad, and throwing stones at police.
The US military said its troops had returned fire in defence after a "complex ambush" but did not make clear how the 16 civilians were killed and 24 wounded. The incident was being investigated by US and Afghan forces, it said.
Earlier, a provincial government spokesman said civilians died when troops in the convoy opened fire after the blast.
"The soldiers in the convoy fired in self-defence, resulting in the killing and wounding of some civilians," said Noor Agha Zwak.
Provincial police spokesman Abdul Ghafour said the US troops were responsible for the civilian casualties. But the US military blamed the Taliban.
"We regret the death of innocent Afghan citizens as a result of the Taliban extremists' cowardly act," said US spokesman Lieut Col David Accetta.
One member of the US force was wounded.
Over 45,000 foreign troops are in Afghanistan battling a resurgent Taliban, who have threatened a spring offensive after the bloodiest year since being ousted in 2001. In a separate incident, two Nato soldiers were killed in the south on Saturday. Their nationalities were not given.
Nato gave no details of the fighting in which two of its soldiers were killed but residents of the violence-plagued Sangin district of the southern province of Helmand said there had been heavy fighting there on Saturday.
Several people who said they were local residents claimed up to 30 civilians were killed in Nato bombing. - (Reuters)