Afghans set fire to NATO vehicles in Kabul after deadly accident

Jul 30, 2010, 15:36 GMT

Kabul - A crowd set fire to two military vehicles in Kabul on Friday after a traffic accident left a civilian dead, a police official and witnesses said.

A military vehicle from a convoy collided with an Afghan civilian car in the centre of Kabul city close to the airport on Friday afternoon, Sayed Abdul Ghafar Sayedzada, a senior police official, said.

'A passenger was killed in the crash and three others were injured,' Sayed told the German Press Agency dpa. 'The accident enraged the local residents in the area and they set fire to two ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) vehicles.'

An ISAF official later said the vehicles belonged to the US embassy and that an investigation was under way.

Television footage showed a crowd of mostly young men shouting and throwing stones at an armoured vehicle in flames.

'We don't know whose fault it was,' Ahmad Munir, a local resident said. 'But the fact that the foreign forces escaped from the scene after killing and injuring the innocent people angered the people.'

The rioters were prevented from marching to the nearby US embassy by Afghan security personnel, Mohammad Haroon, another local resident said.

'The demonstrators have been dispersed and the situation is under control,' Sayedzada said, adding that an investigation was being launched.

Kabul city erupted in a massive street violence in May 2006 after a fatal accident involving a US military vehicle that hit several cars and pedestrians when the driver lost control.

The riot, which was the worst since fall of Taliban regime in 2001, left around 20 people dead and more than 100 injured as security forces shot people rioters who ransacked shops, hotels and aid agency offices in the centre of the city.