Authorities believe a deadly shooting at a NATO outpost in Kandahar province was retaliation for the burning of Qurans and other religious material at Bagram Airfield early last week. The shooting was carried by two gunmen; one an Afghan National Army soldier and the other a literacy teacher. The literacy teacher had links to the Taliban.
ISAF spokesman Capt. Justin Brockhoff said the two gunmen were shot and killed by coalition soldiers at the scene. Kandahar province district chief Niaz Mohammad Sarhadi reported the dead NATO soldiers were both Americans. U.S. Officials have not confirmed his claim.
Since the burned Qurans were discovered, four Americans have been gunned down by members of the Afghan military. The first such shooting occurred early last week at a base in Nangarhar province and left two soldiers dead. The second shooting was carried out over the weekend by an Afghan junior intelligence officer at the Afghan Interior Ministry. Two senior U.S. officers died.
The burned Qurans were discovered by Afghan workers at Bagram. Military officials say the Muslim holy books were burned because it appeared detainees at Parwan Detention Facility were using them to communicate to each other. The books also contain handwritten extremist messages.
In a letter to Afghan President Hamid Karzai, President Obama offered his "regret and apologies over the incident in which religious materials were unintentionally mishandled." Obama also promised to “take the appropriate steps to avoid any recurrence, including holding accountable those responsible.”
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