May 30, 2006
Anti-U.S. Rioting Erupts in Kabul; At Least 14 Dead
By CARLOTTA GALL
KABUL, Afghanistan, May 29 -- A deadly traffic accident caused by a United States military convoy quickly touched off a full-blown anti-American riot on Monday that raged across much of the Afghan capital, leaving at least 14 people dead and scores injured.
Witnesses said American soldiers fired on Afghans throwing stones at them after the crash, though the United States military said only that warning shots had been fired in the air.
But the crash tapped into a latent resentment of the American military presence here, and violence radiated quickly through the city as rumors circulated that the crash might have been deliberate. Gunfire rang out as Afghan police officers and army soldiers tried to contain rioters who rampaged through the streets for about six hours, burning and looting a dozen offices, cars and police posts. By the end of the day at least 14 people were dead and more than 90 injured, hospital officials said. It was the bloodiest day in the capital since the fall of the Taliban in late 2001.
The Interior Ministry announced a nighttime curfew for the city for the first time in four years, from 10 p.m. until 4 a.m., and President Hamid Karzai called for calm on national television. ''This country has been destroyed for years by rioters,'' he said, ''and they are using this traffic incident as an excuse.''
The speed and magnitude of the unrest was such that hundreds of police officers and soldiers struggled to contain the violence. The Afghan government and the American military authority issued statements promising full investigations of the accident.
It became clear the American military and the Afghan police and army had used their weapons to try to disperse the crowds. Scores of people were treated in hospitals for gunshot wounds.
A 7-year-old boy was among the dead, and two more schoolchildren were badly wounded, said Dr. Amin, the duty doctor at Khair Khana Hospital in the northern part of Kabul, who like many Afghans uses only one name. Four people died at the hospital, he said, and 60 wounded people were given first aid before being transferred to other hospitals.
Although the sudden explosion of violence may have been a reaction to the five deaths in the crash, it is a sign that Afghans are losing patience with the government and the foreign military presence in Afghanistan, residents said.
Ali Seraj, a businessman and a descendant of the Afghan royal family, contended that the American military showed a careless attitude toward human life that was becoming a growing problem, whether it was the bombing of villages in counterinsurgency activities in southern Afghanistan or car accidents in the capital.
''This type of attitude has created a great deal of mistrust and hatred,'' he said.
Just last week, President Karzai ordered an investigation of an American airstrike on a village near Kandahar in the south that killed at least 35 civilians. In another episode, the United States military said last month that it would investigate the killings of seven members of a family in an airstrike in Kunar Province in the east during an operation against insurgents.
On Monday, clashes began early in the morning when a truck leading an American military convoy smashed into 12 cars in rush-hour traffic as it went down a long hill from the Khair Khana pass just north of Kabul. Five civilians were killed and more injured in the multiple crash, a statement from Mr. Karzai's office said.
The United States military said in a statement, ''A large cargo truck apparently experienced a mechanical failure.'' The statement continued, ''This was a tragic incident, and we deeply regret any deaths or injuries resulting from this incident.''
An angry crowd gathered and began stoning the American convoy, and the Afghan police when they arrived. ''There are indications that at least one coalition military vehicle fired warning shots over the crowd,'' the United States military statement said. ''We will determine the facts regarding the incident and cooperate fully with Afghan authorities.''
Demonstrators and townspeople said the American troops had fired into the crowd as people gathered and started throwing stones.
One demonstrator, called Ahmadullah, was still shouting, ''Death to Karzai!'' and ''Death to America!'' hours after the initial event.
Demonstrators and townspeople also asserted that the American truck driver had deliberately rammed vehicles as he led the convoy from Bagram Air Base through outlying villages and then into the city. ''The Americans came all the way from Bagram to Kabul and killed about 20 people along the way,'' said Fraidoon, a youth who was among the demonstrators.
He and other bystanders said up to a dozen demonstrators had been shot by guards as they tried to break into a British security company's compound in a downtown area.
Other protesters tried to reach the United States Embassy across town but were prevented by armed blockades of Afghan police officers and soldiers. Others attacked buildings in the commercial center of the city, and some marched on Parliament in the city's southwest, attacking a television company and pizzeria nearby.
By late afternoon the crowds had dispersed, leaving people to count the casualties and put out fires. The offices of the aid organization CARE International and the French nongovernmental organization known by the acronym Acted, a pizzeria, a Chinese guesthouse and a post office were among the buildings that were gutted by fire and ransacked.
Ground-floor windows of the newly opened Serena Hotel, Kabul's first five-star hotel, were smashed, and traffic police officers sat outside burnt roadside police posts. NATO troops evacuated diplomats and staff members from a European Commission compound downtown.
Mr. Karzai blamed opportunists and rioters for the violence. ''Wherever you face these elements, do not let them destroy our home once again,'' he said.
In a sign of the political implications the event has for the government, the president promised to investigate the circumstances of the crash and to see that the Americans involved were punished if found to be guilty. He added that he had received a visit Monday afternoon from the United States ambassador, who had expressed his ''deep regrets.''
The demonstrators -- overwhelmingly young men, even schoolchildren, carrying sticks and stones -- were angry at the reports of deaths, but some also expressed frustration with the government, the police and the generally poor standard of living.
''Most of the demonstrators are people who have lost their jobs, and the government cannot provide the people with the basic necessities,'' said Mukhtar Ziayee, 33, a real estate salesman. ''The people are disappointed.''
But others were armed and intent on violence and robbery, residents said. Mohammed Arif Safajoy, the owner of the pizzeria that was attacked, estimated the rioters had done $50,000 damage there.
''This was just a demonstration in name,'' he said. ''They were looters, these people who came to my restaurant.'' Among them were students from a nearby high school, and they carried off electric fans, dishes and antique ornaments, he said.
Hunger Strike at Guantánamo
MIAMI, May 29 (Reuters) -- Seventy-five prisoners at the American naval base at Guantánamo Bay were on a hunger strike on Monday, joining a few who had refused food and been force-fed since August, a military official said.
Detainees are counted as hunger strikers if they miss nine consecutive meals, and most of the 75 reached that mark on Sunday, said a spokesman for the Guantánamo detention operation. Most are refusing food but continuing to drink liquids, he said.
Hunger strikes have occurred periodically since the first suspected Taliban and Qaeda fighters were taken to the base in 2002.