Children’s deaths spark anti-US outrage in Afghanistan

More than 5,000 people demonstrated in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad Thursday to protest the deaths of four children and wounding of scores of others in an explosion that ripped through a crowd in a nearby village the day before.

The crowd blockaded the main highway to the Pakistan border for hours, shouting "Death to America" and burning US President Barack Obama in effigy.

Despite NATO denials of responsibility for the carnage and a claim by local police that the blast was caused by a police vehicle hitting a landmine, Afghans blamed the deaths on the US-led occupation.

The incident took place Wednesday as a group of US soldiers were visiting a road-construction site in the village of Mazzina. The village lies south of Jalalabad, which is the capital of Nangarhar Province.

Witnesses reported that the soldiers had begun throwing candy to local children when the blast took place.

The New York Times quoted a 38-year-old Afghan, Naimtullah, who said he had witnessed the incident: "I saw them throwing chocolate to the students and then suddenly they threw a grenade, followed by shooting."

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