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KABULTwo high-ranking U.S. military advisers were killed Saturday during a clash with an Afghan national at Afghanistan's Interior Ministry headquarters, according to Afghan and Western officials.
An American colonel and major were both found shot in the head at the busy ministry compound that is the nerve center for the Afghan law enforcement, according to one Western official in Kabul.
Afghan and American officials shut down the compound as they launched an investigation into the killings in one of the most heavily guarded parts of the capital.
Top U.S. military officials said they were still trying to determine the identity of the attacker. But one Western official in Kabul said that the two Americans were shot by an Afghan policeman upset about the burning of Qurans earlier this week at a U.S. military base.
Enlarge Image
0225afghan
0225afghan
European Pressphoto Agency
Afghan police guard the entrance to the Afghan Interior Ministry in Kabul on Saturday, where two U.S. officers were shot.
Hours after the shooting, the Taliban issued a statement claiming that the attacker was an insurgent infiltrator who killed the Americans in retaliation for the Quran burning. In the statement, the Taliban said the assailant called to inform the insurgent group that he had carried out the attack and escaped unharmed.
Details of the incident remained sketchy.
Coalition officials in Kabul dismissed claims by some Afghan officials that the two Americans were killed by a Western colleague.
Earlier this week, an Afghan soldier shot and killed two U.S. soldiers at a small military base in eastern Afghanistan. The attacker escaped through a crowd of anti-Quran burning demonstrators outside the base.
Previously
Quran-Burning Protests Escalate
U.S. Seeks Afghan Exit Routes
Pakistan Urges Taliban to Participate in Talks
The confrontation in Kabul came as thousands of demonstrators unsuccessfully tried to storm the United Nations compound in the northeastern city of Kunduz. At least three people were killed as protesters, some armed with guns, converged on the U.N offices, according to the provincial governor's office.
Around the country, fury over the attempt by coalition soldiers to incinerate a truckload of Islamic books, including copies of the Quran, at Bagram Airfield showed no signs of diminishing. In a wave of unrest now in its fifth day, protesters are targeting Afghan government buildings and Western offices.
At least 27 people have been killed, including two U.S. soldiers shot by an Afghan officer Thursday. Southern Afghanistanthe heartland of the Taliban insurgencyhas been the only part of the country to avoid deadly confrontations so far.
American officials have tried to contain Afghan outrage by issuing repeated apologies and launching a swift investigation into the incident.
U.S. President Barack Obama apologized to Afghan President Hamid Karzai in a personal letter.
U.S. officials have called the Quran burning a serious mistake. U.S. Marine Gen. John Allen, commander of coalition forces in Afghanistan, called for all forces to undergo quick training on the proper way to handle Islamic religious books.
U.S. military officials have said the books were set aside for destruction because Afghan detainees at the Parwan military detention center at Bagram were using them to trade messages and share extremist writing. But it remains unclear why the soldiers decided to burn copies of the Qurana particularly incendiary affront to Muslims who view the book as the sacred word of God as relayed to the Prophet Muhammad.
U.S. Officers Killed in Kabul Shooting - WSJ.com
An American colonel and major were both found shot in the head at the busy ministry compound that is the nerve center for the Afghan law enforcement, according to one Western official in Kabul.
Afghan and American officials shut down the compound as they launched an investigation into the killings in one of the most heavily guarded parts of the capital.
Top U.S. military officials said they were still trying to determine the identity of the attacker. But one Western official in Kabul said that the two Americans were shot by an Afghan policeman upset about the burning of Qurans earlier this week at a U.S. military base.
Enlarge Image
0225afghan
0225afghan
European Pressphoto Agency
Afghan police guard the entrance to the Afghan Interior Ministry in Kabul on Saturday, where two U.S. officers were shot.
Hours after the shooting, the Taliban issued a statement claiming that the attacker was an insurgent infiltrator who killed the Americans in retaliation for the Quran burning. In the statement, the Taliban said the assailant called to inform the insurgent group that he had carried out the attack and escaped unharmed.
Details of the incident remained sketchy.
Coalition officials in Kabul dismissed claims by some Afghan officials that the two Americans were killed by a Western colleague.
Earlier this week, an Afghan soldier shot and killed two U.S. soldiers at a small military base in eastern Afghanistan. The attacker escaped through a crowd of anti-Quran burning demonstrators outside the base.
Previously
Quran-Burning Protests Escalate
U.S. Seeks Afghan Exit Routes
Pakistan Urges Taliban to Participate in Talks
The confrontation in Kabul came as thousands of demonstrators unsuccessfully tried to storm the United Nations compound in the northeastern city of Kunduz. At least three people were killed as protesters, some armed with guns, converged on the U.N offices, according to the provincial governor's office.
Around the country, fury over the attempt by coalition soldiers to incinerate a truckload of Islamic books, including copies of the Quran, at Bagram Airfield showed no signs of diminishing. In a wave of unrest now in its fifth day, protesters are targeting Afghan government buildings and Western offices.
At least 27 people have been killed, including two U.S. soldiers shot by an Afghan officer Thursday. Southern Afghanistanthe heartland of the Taliban insurgencyhas been the only part of the country to avoid deadly confrontations so far.
American officials have tried to contain Afghan outrage by issuing repeated apologies and launching a swift investigation into the incident.
U.S. President Barack Obama apologized to Afghan President Hamid Karzai in a personal letter.
U.S. officials have called the Quran burning a serious mistake. U.S. Marine Gen. John Allen, commander of coalition forces in Afghanistan, called for all forces to undergo quick training on the proper way to handle Islamic religious books.
U.S. military officials have said the books were set aside for destruction because Afghan detainees at the Parwan military detention center at Bagram were using them to trade messages and share extremist writing. But it remains unclear why the soldiers decided to burn copies of the Qurana particularly incendiary affront to Muslims who view the book as the sacred word of God as relayed to the Prophet Muhammad.
U.S. Officers Killed in Kabul Shooting - WSJ.com
that's sad 
