Taliban threaten to behead U.S. soldiers over civilian shootings

The Afghan Taliban on Tuesday threatened to behead U.S. troops in revenge for the massacre of 16 Afghan civilians by a lone American soldier in southern Afghanistan.

“The Islamic Emirate once again warns the American animals that the mujahideen will avenge them, and with the help of Allah will kill and behead your sadistic murderous soldiers,’’ Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement.

A U.S. Army staff sergeant has been taken into custody, accused of walking off his base in the volatile province of Kandahar in the middle of the night and gunning down at least 16 villagers, mostly women and children.

A U.S. official said the accused soldier had suffered a traumatic brain injury in Iraq.

The shootings triggered a protest by around 2,000 students in the eastern city of Jalalabad, the first since Sunday’s attack, calling for the U.S. soldier to be prosecuted by Afghan authorities in Kandahar.

The demonstrators chanted “Death to America’’ and demanded Afghan President Hamid Karzai reject plans to sign a strategic pact with Washington that would allow U.S. advisers and possibly special forces to remain beyond a 2014 deadline for foreign combat troops to leave Afghanistan.

U.S. President Barack Obama said the shootings had only increased his determination to get American troops out of Afghanistan.

However, Obama cautioned there should not be a “rush to the exits’’ for U.S. forces who have been fighting in Afghanistan since 2001 and that the drawdown set for the end of 2014 should be done in a responsible way.

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U.S. soldier held in shooting rampage that killed 16 Afghans, officials say

KABUL — An American soldier walked off his base in a remote southern Afghan village shortly before dawn Sunday and opened fire on civilians inside their homes, killing at least 16, including nine children, Afghan officials said.

The shootings in the Panjwai district of Kandahar province appeared to mark the deadliest intentional attack on civilians by a U.S. soldier in the decade-long Afghanistan war. Although U.S. officials promptly detained the suspect, a staff sergeant, the incident seemed certain to stoke anti-American sentiment at a time of growing unease about the presence of foreign troops in Afghanistan and increasing pessimism among Americans about the U.S. mission here.

Coming as Afghan rage over the burning of Korans by U.S. soldiers last month was beginning to taper off, the killings Sunday threatened to spark a new crisis in the strained relationship between the United States and Afghanistan. The two nations are in the midst of contentious negotiations over an agreement that could extend the presence of U.S. troops in the country beyond 2014.

The incident also provided fresh fodder to critics of the Obama administration’s Afghanistan strategy who are trying to portray the 2009 troop surge as a failed attempt to secure a dignified exit.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai called the shootings an “assassination” and demanded an explanation from U.S. officials.

President Obama and Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta called Karzai on Sunday to discuss the incident. Obama expressed “shock and sadness” and vowed to “hold fully accountable anyone responsible” for the killings, the White House said in a statement.

“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,” Obama said.

U.S. officials shed no light on the motive or state of mind of the alleged shooter. The Associated Press reported Sunday that the suspect was from Fort Lewis, in Washington state. He was taken into custody shortly after the shooting rampage.

“It appears he walked off post and later returned and turned himself in,” said Lt. Cmdr. James Williams, a military spokesman.

U.S. military officials stressed that the shooting was carried out by a lone, rogue soldier, differentiating it from past instances in which civilians were killed accidentally during military operations.

But the shooting left American soldiers on edge, bracing for retaliatory attacks.

“My fear is that those Afghans in the region that were indifferent to either side of this conflict will now, at least as a temporary emotional reaction, become active insurgents,” said a U.S. Army officer based in Kandahar, speaking on the condition of anonymity to express his fears candidly.

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