Afghan villager describes soldier's attack

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- An Afghan man on Monday recounted the harrowing tale of how an American soldier on a killing spree burst into his home in the middle of the night, searched the rooms, then dropped to a knee and shot his father in the thigh as he emerged from a bedroom.

"I heard a gunshot. When I came out of my room, somebody entered our house. He was in a NATO forces uniform. I didn't see his face because it was dark," said villager Mohammad Zahir, 26, adding that he quickly went to a part of the house where animals are penned.

"After that, I saw him moving to different areas of the house -- like he was searching," he said.

His father, unarmed, then took a few steps out of his bedroom, Zahir recalled. "He was not holding anything -- not even a cup of tea," Zahir said. Then the soldier fired.

"I love my father, but I was sure that if I came out he would shoot me too. So I waited," Zahir said. His mother started pulling his father into the room, and he helped cover his father's bullet wound with a cloth. Zahir's father survived.

After the gunman left, Zahir said he heard more gunshots near the house, and he stayed in hiding for a few minutes to make sure he was gone.

The alleged gunman, a staff sergeant, is now in custody, accused of killing 16 Afghan civilians, most of them children, and then burning many of the bodies.

The name of the soldier, 38, was not released because it would be "inappropriate" to do so before charges are filed, Pentagon spokesman George Little said.

The suspect -- who has been in the military for 11 years, served three tours in Iraq and is married with two children -- was being held in pretrial confinement in Kandahar by the U.S. military while Army officials review his complete deployment and medical history, according to the source.

The shooting rampage unfolded in two villages near a U.S. base. An enraged President Hamid Karzai called it "an assassination, an intentional killing of innocent civilians" that cannot be forgiven. He demanded an explanation from Washington for the deaths, which included nine children and three women.

If the attack unleashes another wave of anti-foreigner hatred, it could threaten the future of the U.S.-led coalition's mission in Afghanistan.