Unrest grips Kabul after US truck crash, 13 dead

KABUL (Reuters) - Security forces opened fire on protestors on Monday after a fatal crash involving a U.S. army truck triggered the worst riots in the Afghan capital since the fall of the Taliban.

Officials said five people died when the truck, part of a U.S. convoy, crashed into a dozen vehicles. At least eight people were killed and more than 100 wounded in the subsequent protests, a health ministry official said.

After the accident a furious crowd hurled stones and smashed windows of the convoy vehicles, according to a U.S. military statement. "There are indications that at least one coalition military vehicle fired warning shots over the crowd," it said.

Afghan police also opened fire when they came to the assistance of the U.S. troops, but it was unclear who was responsible for shooting into the angry crowd.

Some eyewitnesses blamed the U.S. troops, others blamed the police and some blamed both.

A Reuters reporter at the scene saw one man shot dead and several wounded people being taken away, while rioters set alight two police cars. Several television cameramen were beaten by protesters, journalists said.

U.S. military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Paul Fitzpatrick said no U.S. troops had been hurt, and an investigation had begun into the incident which happened in Kabul's northern outskirts during the morning rush hour.

By early afternoon up to two thousand protesters had gathered in central Kabul, some marching on parliament and some on the presidential palace, and gunfire crackled as Afghan police and troops fired in the air to disperse the crowds.

Several hundred more congregated at an intersection leading to the heavily fortified U.S. embassy chanting slogans of "Death to America" and burning American flags.

A few dozen forced their way past a police cordon guarding the road to the embassy and threw stones at vehicles carrying foreigners into the compound.

The protesters outside the embassy were later dispersed by police and Afghan army troops who also fired in the air.

"Embassy staff have been moved to a secure location. It is a regular procedure during any unrest in the city," a U.S. embassy spokesman Chris Harris told Reuters.

AID AGENCIES TARGETED

A number of other international aid agency compounds and offices were set on fire in downtown Kabul before order was restored, a western security source said.

The violence abated by early evening, but in neighborhoods close to where the crash happened some rioting continued. The interior ministry announced an overnight curfew.

In a televised address to the nation, Karzai said the unrest was fueled by "opportunists and agitators," warning Afghans they could not afford to let internal enemies destroy the country.

"My wish from my countrymen is for them to deal seriously wherever they confront such elements and not allow them to destroy our home again," Karzai said.

A Reuters journalist said he saw shops being looted, and a house belonging to a foreigner and the office of Care International aid group being ransacked, while cars were set ablaze outside a private television broadcaster's building.

Some demonstrators tore down a billboard poster of Karzai, who is regarded by many Afghans as dependent on U.S. support.

"We don't accept Karzai any more as a president. We protest against him: death to Karzai!" Jaweed Agha, one of the protesters, shouted.

The United States, which ousted Afghanistan's Islamist Taliban rulers in 2001, has 23,000 troops in the country.

A NATO-led peacekeeping force has more than 9,000 troops in the country, most of them stationed in Kabul and the more peaceful north and west. It is now expanding its mission to the volatile south, where a Taliban-inspired insurgency is raging.