A blast near a US troop convoy in eastern Afghanistan killed at least one child and wounded scores of civilians on Tuesday, a provincial governor said. The US military said that one person was reported killed and that three US soldiers and several Afghan civilians, including at least one child, were hurt in the blast.
Some witnesses and the Afghan Education Ministry blamed a US soldier for throwing a grenade into a crowd, however the US military said a grenade had been thrown by an insurgent. Kunar Province Governor Fazlullah Wahidi said 49 people were wounded. Provincial police chief Abdul Jalal Jalal said officials were investigating whether the blast was caused by a grenade thrown by US troops or by an insurgent attack.
US military spokeswoman Captain Elizabeth Matthias said a convoy of US troops had stopped when one of its armoured vehicles became stuck. The convoy took ground fire and an insurgent threw a grenade, wounding three soldiers and a 12-year-old boy, she said. "The grenade was definitely not thrown by a US service member," Matthias said.
The US military later said in a statement the grenade was thrown by "an unknown person from a nearby building" and that several Afghan civilians were wounded and another reportedly killed. An investigation was under way, it said. The Afghan Education Ministry said in a statement US forces based in Asadabad had thrown a grenade and that one student was killed and another 15 children were wounded. Many other civilians were either killed or wounded, it said. "The Ministry of Education strongly condemns any act of violence that results in the killing and wounding of innocent students and teachers," the statement said.
Several of the wounded and other witnesses told Reuters a US soldier had thrown a grenade. "I was on my way to school. Their tyre burst, and then a soldier hurled a hand grenade from the convoy," said Abdul Wahab, 12, lying in a hospital bed with two shrapnel wounds in his leg.
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