Gruesome

New Details in Afghan Shooting

Obama 'saddened' by attack.

President Obama said Sunday that he is “deeply saddened” after an American soldier opened fire on civilians in Afghanistan, killing 16 people, including nine children and three women. The attack began around 3 a.m. in villages near Kandahar, when a soldier began going from house to house and shooting those inside. Some witnesses said that they believed there was more than one attacker. But U.S. officials said the attack was the work of one individual. The suspect was from Joint-Base Lewis-McChord, Washington and had been to assigned to support a special operations unit engaged in a village stability operation. He is currently in custody at a NATO base in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said in a statement, “This is an assassination, an intentional killing of innocent civilians, and cannot be forgiven." The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. John Allen, has promised a “rapid and thorough investigation.”