American goes on shooting rampage in Afghanistan: officials

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An American Army soldier went on a shooting rampage in Afghanistan, killing at least 16 people including nine children after breaking into their homes in a village near his base, Afghan and U.S. officials said Sunday.

The soldier, who has not been identified, is in NATO custody and the incident is being investigated, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) coalition said.

Officials say the U.S. military there is treating at least five wounded.

“I wish to convey my profound regrets and dismay at the actions apparently taken by one coalition member in Kandahar province," said a statement from Lt. Gen. Adrian Bradshaw, the deputy commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan. “One of our soldiers is reported to have killed and injured a number of civilians in villages adjacent to his base. I cannot explain the motivation behind such callous acts, but they were in no way part of authorized ISAF military activity.”

Tooryalai Wesa, governor of Kandahar province, told The Associated Press that a group of officials had gone to the base to determine exactly what happened.

GRAPHIC WARNING: The bodies of Afghan civilians allegedly shot by U.S. service member. (Mamoon Durrani/AFP/Getty Images)

"The incident happened. There are some people killed, some wounded. But I don't have the details," he said in a phone interview.

The shootings occurred around 3 a.m. in Panjwai district of Kandahar province, in a village about 500 yards from a U.S. base, AP reported.

An AP photographer reported seeing 15 bodies of Afghans that villagers claimed were killed by an American service member.

The photographer saw the bodies — some of them burned and some covered with blankets — in the villages of Alkozai and Balandi.

With News Wire Services

msheridan@nydailynews.com; or follow him at Twitter.com/NYDNSheridan

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