A couple of thousand angry Afghans Tuesday stormed the US base at Bagram angered over the arrest of a former mujahidin commander, Engineer Hamidullah, from the Deh Mula village along with a prayer leader of a mosque and six other locals in the nightime hours between Monday and Tuesday. Hamidullah was the Taliban's former deputy chief of finance.
The protesters also burned tires, hurled stones, damaged cars and chanted anti-American slogans.
Pravda reports that violence erupted after six U.S. military vehicles traveling in a convoy tried to enter the base. The protesters threw stones at them before troops inside the cars leaned out their windows and fired into the air with handguns. The vehicles then sped into the base and the demonstrators chased them, trying to push down a metal gate guarded by Afghan forces. The Afghan soldiers used batons to beat back the protesters and several fired into the air with their assault rifles as they shouted at the protesters to go home. Most dispersed.
"A protestor was injured in US troops' firing outside the base while around 400 local employees inside the base joined the protestors to push their demand," Mohammad Zahir Rahimi told Xinhua from the scene.
The US military denies firing any shots during the incident. US military spokeswoman Cindy Moore said the forces had recovered explosives from Hamidullah's house. The man was detained following reports that he was planning to attack the Bagram military headquarters. She added the US forces were accompanied by Afghan intelligence and police personnel.
The brother of Hamidullah said US forces were mistaken when they targeted his brother or that someone had purposely misled them.
Condemning the arrest, the demonstrators said the soldiers raided and searched their houses in the middle of the night. They warned of serious consequences if such search operations were not halted. "We have fought against the former Soviet Union and the Taliban, but if the excesses continued, we will raise weapons against the US this time," screamed a young man punching the air reported Pajhwok Afghan News. "We have supported the Americans for years. We should be treated with dignity," said Shah Aghar, 35, a local resident. "They are arresting our people without the permission of the government. They are breaking into our houses and offending the people. We are very angry."
A statement from the Coaltion Press Office said that Afghan and U.S. forces attempted to contact local leaders to involve them in the operation but were unable to do so.
Meanwhile, in recent days Taliban forces have stepped up attacks on US troops possibly in response to a call from Mullah Mohammed Omar (remember him), to take down the current Afghan government and to drive foreign forces from the country. The Australian reports that Omar’s message is addressed to the members of the ousted Taliban movement's leadership council, many of whom are thought to be co-coordinating attacks from Pakistan or in the mountains of southern Afghanistan. Omar calls on leaders to stick together in their fight against the Government and foreign forces. "Unite and do not disagree. Continue your jihad and victory will be yours," the voice on the recording says. Sources: Pajhwok Afghan News, AfhanMania, Xinhua, SABC, Reuters, Pravda, Afghan News Network, BBC, Combined Forces Command – Afghanistan - Coalition Press Information Center (Public Affairs), The Australian
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