Afghan Soldier Killed at Service for Rampage Victims

Militants opened fire on a prayer service for the 16 people killed in a US soldier's shooting rampage this weekend, targeting a visiting government delegation that included two of Hamid Karzai's brothers, along with senior defense, intelligence, and interior ministry officials. The militants fired from a distance, killing at least one government soldier and wounding two other people in what turned into a 10-minute firefight, al-Jazeera reports. "Bullets were coming like rain on us," one witness was quoted as saying.

The delegation had been visiting the site of the attack to explain to locals that it was an isolated incident, one lawmaker tells the AP. "But the people were just shouting … They didn't listen to the governor. They accused him of defending the Americans." Such anger is widespread. In Jalalabad today, 2,000 students took to the streets shouting, "Death to America! Death to Obama!" The Taliban, meanwhile, issued a statement warning the US that it would "behead your sadistic murderous soldiers" to avenge the rampage, Reuters reports. (More Afghanistan stories.)