We will avenge civilian massacre by ‘sick savages’ pledges Taliban

US-led forces in Afghanistan have stepped up security following Sunday’s shootings in Kandahar province out of concern about retaliatory attacks, amid ongoing anger after US troops burned Korans last month. The US embassy has also warned American citizens in Afghanistan about the possibility of reprisals.

The Taliban said in an online statement that “sick-minded American savages” committed the “blood-soaked and inhumane crime” in two villages in Panjwai district, a rural region outside Kandahar that is the cradle of the Taliban and where coalition forces have fought for control for years.

The militant group promised the families of the victims that it would take revenge “for every single martyr with the help of Allah”.

US officials have said the shootings were carried out by a single American soldier, an army staff sergeant, who is in custody. Investigators are looking into whether he has suffered a mental breakdown.

But Afghans have expressed doubt a single soldier could have carried out the shootings in houses more than a mile apart.

The attacks began at around 3am and targeted villages about 500 yards from a US base in a region that was the focus of US president Barack Obama’s military surge strategy in 2009.

Villagers described cowering in fear as the soldier roamed from house to house firing on those inside.

They said he entered three homes and set fire to some of the bodies. Eleven of the dead were from a single family, and nine of the victims were children.

“One man can’t kill so many people. There must have been many people involved,” Bacha Agha of Balandi village said.

“If the government says this is just one person’s act, we will not accept it ... After killing those people they also burned the bodies.”

In a statement, Afghan president Hamid Karzai initially spoke of a single US gunman, then referred to “American forces” entering houses.

The statement quoted a 15-year-old survivor named Rafiullah, who was shot in the leg, as telling Mr Karzai in a phone call that “soldiers” broke into his house, woke up his family and began shooting them.

“This is an assassination, an intentional killing of innocent civilians and cannot be forgiven,” Mr Karzai said.

Mr Obama phoned the Afghan leader to express his shock and sadness, and offered condolences. He vowed “to get the facts as quickly as possible and to hold accountable anyone responsible”.

In Panjwai district, grieving residents tried to make sense of why they were targeted. Dozens of villagers crowded the streets as minibuses and lorries carried away the dead to be washed for burial.

The other 12 dead were from Balandi village, said Samad Khan, a farmer who lost all 11 members of his family, including women and children.

Mr Khan was away from the village when the attack occurred and returned to find his family members shot and burned.

One of his neighbours was also killed, he said.

“This is an anti-human and anti-Islamic act,” Mr Khan said.

“Nobody is allowed in any religion in the world to kill children and women.”

One woman opened a blue blanket with pink flowers to reveal the body of her two-year-old child, who was wearing a blood-soaked shirt.

“Was this child Taliban? There is no Taliban here,” said Gul Bushra. The Americans “are always threatening us with dogs and helicopters during night raids”.