US officials today warned of possible reprisal attacks after 16 Afghan villagers were killed in a likely "rogue" shooting by a US soldier.
Washington has rushed to distance the shootings, blamed on a lone US soldier, from the efforts of the 90,000-strong US force in Afghanistan, but the rampage in southern Kandahar province is certain to inflame anti-Western anger once again.
"The US embassy in Kabul alerts US citizens in Afghanistan that as a result of a tragic shooting incident in Kandahar province involving a US service member, there is a risk of anti-American feelings and protests in coming days, especially in the eastern and southern provinces," the embassy said in an emergency statement on its website.
Kandahar is the birthplace of the Taliban, toppled by US-backed forces in late 2001. Southern and eastern provinces have seen some of the fiercest fighting of the war, increasingly unpopular among Americans and their European allies.
Early today, the embassy said on Twitter restrictions had been placed on the movements of all embassy personnel in the south.
The attack in Kandahar comes less than three weeks after US troops inadvertently burned copies of the Koran, the Muslim holy book, at the main Nato base in Afghanistan, sparking widespread protests in which 30 people were killed.
Yesterday's incident was one of the worst of its kind, witnesses describing it as a "night-time massacre" that killed nine children and three women. Villagers in three houses were attacked and many civilians were wounded, a spokesman for the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said.
President Barack Obama called Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai, promising to establish the facts quickly and "to hold fully accountable anyone responsible.
"This incident is tragic and shocking and does not represent the exceptional character of our military and the respect that the United States has for the people of Afghanistan," Mr Obama said in a statement.
US secretary of state Hillary Clinton expressed shock and regret at the "inexplicable" massacre of the Afghan villagers.
"This is not who we are and the United States is committed to seeing that those responsible are held accountable," she said.
The soldier in custody was described by one US official as a staff sergeant who was married with three children. The sergeant had served three tours in Iraq but was on his first deployment in Afghanistan, the official said.
Such incidents fuel anti-Western sentiment among Afghans and are quickly exploited by the insurgents. The Afghan Taliban said it would take revenge.
There were conflicting accounts of how many US soldiers were involved, with witness accounts saying there were several. Officials from the US embassy, ISAF and from Washington said it appeared there was only one. An ISAF spokesman said a US soldier "walked back to the base and turned himself in to US forces this morning", adding there had been no military operations in the area.
Neighbours and relatives of the victims said they saw a group of US soldiers arrive at their village in Panjwai district, about 35km from the provincial capital Kandahar City, at about 2am. They said the soldiers entered homes and opened fire.
However, Afghan minister of border and tribal affairs Asadullah Khalid said a US soldier burst into three homes near his base in the middle of the night, killing a total of 16 people, including 11 people in the first house, he said.
Elsewhere, German chancellor Angela Merkel is today making an unexpected visit to German troops serving in the Nato mission in Afghanistan. Ms Merkel, who is meeting forces based near Mazar-e-Sharif in the north, last visited the country in 2010.
Reuters