KANDAHAR: About 1,000 Afghans took to the streets in a southern town on Thursday to protest the killing of 16 civilians in a murderous rampage by a US soldier, police said.
Shouting anti-American slogans the demonstrators poured into the main town of Qalat in Zabul province neighbouring Kandahar, where the shooting spree took place on Sunday, regional police spokesman Hekmatullah Kochai told AFP.
The protest came with US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta due to hold talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Kabul aimed at calming troubled ties.
The protesters, carrying white flags, demanded a public trial for the shooter, identified as a 38-year-old US army sergeant.
The protest is the second in Afghanistan since the killings in three war-scarred villages in Kandahar province's Panjwayi district last Sunday. The suspect was flown out of Afghanistan, likely to face trial, according to the Pentagon officials.
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