Passenger Bus Shot in Afghanistan, 4 dead, Protests already started

While on the road all day, there was a shooting in Afghanistan. The comments from one FOGN:

The bus incident is tragic both for the impact to civil-military relations, and for the poor soldier in the turret and his team leader who used judgment to protect their team. His only crime was not delivering more accurate fire into the wheel wells, to stop the bus – sadly machine guns are area fire weapons. I feel for the civilians on the bus and for the kids in the trucks who were clearing the roads for the bus’ and civilian’s safe passage. There but for the grace of God go I. . . .

American troops in Afghanistan riddled a passenger bus with bullets outside Kandahar on Monday, killing four civilians and galvanizing anti-Western sentiment just as NATO is gearing up for a massive military offensive in and around the southern city.

Angry protests erupted after the shooting in Zhari district, to the west of Kandahar, which also left 18 people hurt.

NATO's International Security Assistance Force said it "deeply regrets the tragic loss of life" in the shootings, and it promised a speedy joint investigation with Afghan authorities.

Tensions have been running high before the planned Western push to expel the Taliban from Kandahar, which the insurgents consider their spiritual home.

Coalition troops, mainly Americans and Canadians, have been trying to clear and control major roads near the city -- a task that leaves them vulnerable to vehicle-borne suicide bombers and so-called improvised explosive devices, or IEDs.

Civilians, in turn, risk being mistaken for a threat by the Western forces if they drive erratically or stray too close to military convoys.

The early-morning shooting occurred after a crowded bus traveling on the main highway out of Kandahar came up behind several slow-moving Western military vehicles that were engaged in road clearing, said Zalmai Ayubi, a spokesman for the governor of Kandahar province.

Under what NATO calls "escalation of force" rules, troops are ordered to use nonlethal means when possible to prevent a suspicious vehicle from getting too close. Military officials said troops tried to signal the driver to stop, using flares, flashlights and hand signals.

With the bus gathering speed instead of slowing, the troops opened fire on it, according to the military's account -- realizing only afterward that the vehicle was a passenger bus.

As word of the shootings spread, protests broke out on the city's outskirts. Witnesses said demonstrators burned tires on the main road and shouted slogans condemning both the United States and President Hamid Karzai.

NATO did not acknowledge that the troops involved were Americans, but local officials and a Western military official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the event, described them as U.S. forces.

h/t Jason

By: Brant