Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) — Afghan forces came under fire today during a funeral for victims of a weekend rampage blamed on a U.S. soldier, while protesters angered by the killings blocked a major highway in the country’s southeast.
The U.S. military says the Army sergeant blamed for the killings acted alone. Two senior military officials told CNN that images from security cameras around his outpost showed the suspect leaving the base and returning by himself.
In Washington, U.S. President Barack Obama said American officials were “heartbroken” by the deaths but have no plans to change course in the decade-old war in Afghanistan.
But Sunday’s predawn rampage, which left nine children, three women and four men dead in two villages in rural Kandahar province, has added to the strain between Washington and Kabul. Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Tuesday that the killings “caused great pain for the people of Afghanistan,” Taliban insurgents have vowed to avenge the killings, and gunshots and grenades echoed in the distance as the victims were buried today.
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