Mammon Durrani / AFP - Getty Images
A villager on Sunday points to where a family was allegedly shot in their home by a U.S. soldier in Alkozai, a village in Afghanistan's Kandahar province.
By msnbc.com staff and news services
Updated at 10:55 a.m. ET: KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- A U.S. service member killed at least 15 members of two Afghan families as well as a 16th person before turning himself in, witnesses and officials said Sunday.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai in a statement called it "an assassination," adding that nine of the dead were children, and three were women.
The soldier, who has yet to be identified, reportedly left his base in the early hours Sunday and went to two villages just a few hundred yards away. He then opened fire on Afghan civilians sleeping in their homes, Minister of Border and Tribal Affairs Asadullah Khalid told Reuters. The service member entered three homes in the villages in Kandahar province, he said.
Twelve of the dead were from Balandi, said Samad Khan, adding that 11 were from his family, including women and children. Khan was away from the village when the incident occurred. One of his neighbors was also killed, he said.
"This is an anti-human and anti-Islamic act," said Khan. "Nobody is allowed in any religion in the world to kill children and women."
Ahmad Nadeem / Reuters
Afghan soldiers keep watch at a U.S. military base Sunday as nearby residents gather following the killing of civilians in a rural area of Kandahar province.
Khan demanded that Karzai punish the American shooter. "Otherwise we will make a decision," said Khan. "He should be handed over to us."
Four people reportedly killed in the neighboring village were also from a single family, said a female relative who was shouting in anger. She did not give her name because of the conservative nature of local society.
"No Taliban were here. No gun battle was going on," said the woman. "We don't know why this foreign soldier came and killed our innocent family members. Either he was drunk or he was enjoying killing civilians."
Five were wounded in the incident, said Khalid, who is investigating the incident.
NBC's Atia Abawi reports on the killing of Afghan civilians.
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The BBC reported that the soldier was thought to have suffered a breakdown.
Meanwhile, Afghanistan's defense ministry told Reuters that "coalition forces" killed civilians in the shooting spree. NATO did not immediately comment on the report, which implied that there had been more than one attacker.
American and NATO officials apologized for Sunday's shootings.
MSNBC military analyst Gen. Barry McCaffrey (Ret.) says the alleged shooting of Afghan civilians by a US soldier is a 'further unraveling' of relations between the US and Afghanistan.
The American Embassy in Kabul said in a statement that it was "saddened by this violent act against our Afghan friends."
"The United States extends its deepest condolences to the families of the victims of today’s tragic shooting incident," the statement said. "We assure the people of Afghanistan that the individual or individuals responsible for this act will be identified and brought to justice."
NATO, meanwhile, called the attack "appalling" and said it was in no way part of its authorized activities.
"An investigation is already underway and every effort will be made to establish the facts and hold anyone responsible to account," Lt. Gen. Adrian Bradshaw, deputy commander of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, said in a statement.
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Civilian casualties have been a major source of friction between Karzai's government and U.S.-led NATO forces in Afghanistan.
"U.S. Forces-Afghanistan, in cooperation with Afghan authorities, will investigate this incident," NATO said.
Anti-American sentiment is running high in Afghanistan and it may deepen if news of the shooting spreads.
Anger gripped the country after U.S. soldiers burned a large number of copies of the Koran at a NATO base last month. NATO said it was a tragic blunder.
Thirty people were killed in protests and Afghan forces turned their weapons on U.S. soldiers, killing six.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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