May 22, 2003	Thursday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 19,1424

KABUL, May 21: US troops shot dead four Afghan soldiers and wounded four others outside the US embassy here on Wednesday when they mistakenly thought they were about to come under attack, Afghan officials said.

The incident came just after Washington raised its terror alert status to high after recent bombings in Saudi Arabia and Morocco, and could prove an embarrassment for the main backer of the fragile government of President Hamid Karzai.

Amrullah Salihi, a senior Afghan intelligence official, said US Marines guarding the embassy opened fire when they spotted the Afghans moving weapons at a military compound opposite.

“It was a misunderstanding,” he said.

“The US soldiers thought the Afghan soldiers were aiming guns at them,” another intelligence official added. “They panicked and opened fire.”

Rafiullah, an officer with the Kabul garrison, said no US soldiers were hurt. Police earlier said one American may have been wounded when one of the wounded Afghans returned fire in self-defence.

“There was no firing from the Afghan side, except for one of the wounded soldiers who fired back after the Americans fired at him,” Police Gen Abdul Rauf told Reuters.

The fortress-like embassy in central Kabul is guarded by heavily armed Marines in sandbagged watchtowers.

Asked if it could have been connected to the raising of the alert status, he said the Kabul embassy was always on high alert.

US soldiers blocked off the road in front of the embassy immediately after the mid-morning incident.—Reuters