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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 29 May 2006

AFGHANISTAN: Deadly riots follow traffic accident

KABUL, 29 May 2006 (IRIN) - At least eight people were killed and more than 100 injured after a deadly traffic accident involving US troops sparked a demonstration in the Afghan capital Kabul, on Monday.

The incident began when a US military convoy hit several civilian cars in rush-hour traffic as it entered the city from the northern outskirts. The crash aggravated the worst riot in Kabul since the fall of hard-line Taliban in late 2001, according to government officials.

“We have registered eight dead and 109 wounded people in various hospitals in the city,” health ministry spokesman Abdullah Fahim told IRIN.

Some eyewitnesses told IRIN that the casualties occurred when US and Afghan security forces opened fire on the demonstrators.

“The coalition is conducting a full investigation regarding this incident,” said Col Thomas Collins, coalition spokesman in Afghanistan.

The severity of the violence in the capital is an indication of how poor the coalition’s reputation in Afghanistan is, observers said. Many local people complain the country is run by warlords and that there is no security and little development outside the capital, nearly five years after the Taliban were ousted.

“There are indications that at least one coalition military vehicle fired warning shots over the crowd. We will determine the facts regarding the incident and cooperate fully with Afghan authorities,” Collins added.

Hundreds of protesters looted shops and set fire to police vehicles and some government buildings in the city. An IRIN reporter saw demonstrators setting fire to a building of local private television channel Aina.

Members of the national assembly asked residents to keep calm and wait until the incident had been properly investigated.

“We call on people to be patient and not act emotionally... let the government to make the final decision and handle the situation properly,” the speaker of the lower house of parliament, Mohammad Yunous Qanooni, said in a statment broadcast live on state television.

“Such a situation could only contribute to attempts by the enemies of the nation who want to destabilise our country,” Qanooni remarked, adding that both the national assembly and the cabinet were holding an emergency meeting on the incident.

Adrian Edwards, United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA)’s spokesman said: “With incidents like this people will understandably be upset, but this makes it all the more important that there be calm.”

“One tragedy must not be allowed to translate into another,” Edwards maintained.

The deadly incident comes after an upsurge in Taliban-led violence, particularly in the restive south of the war-ravaged country. Over 600 people, mostly militants, have lost their lives in rebel violence this year.


[ENDS]

This material comes to you via IRIN, a UN humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies. If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Quotations or extracts should include attribution to the original sources. All materials copyright © UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2006