Afghans riot after US troops shoot at mob

A deadly traffic accident on Monday involving a US military vehicle that killed five civilians sparked the worst riot in the Afghan capital since the fall of the Taliban regime

A deadly traffic accident on Monday involving a US military vehicle that killed five civilians sparked the worst riot in the Afghan capital since the fall of the Taliban regime, with hundreds of protesters looting shops and shouting 8216;8216;Death to America!8217;8217; US forces had opened fire into a crowd that had gathered after the early morning accident.

Hospitals in the city listed 14 people dead, mostly of bullet wounds, and were treating another 142 wounded . Officials said it was too early to establish a clear toll after the violence, but eyewitness accounts suggested the toll could rise.The government later imposed a nighttime curfew in the city.

Hundreds of Afghan Army troops and NATO peacekeepers in tanks were deployed around the city, as chanting protesters marched on the presidential palace and rioters smashed police guard boxes and set fire to police cars.

Rioters ransacked several buildings, including a sprawling compound belonging to the aid group CARE International. Computers were set on fire and smoke billowed from the buildings.

Elsewhere, several demonstrators pulled a man who appeared to be a Westerner from a civilian vehicle and beat him. The man escaped and ran to a line of police, who fired shots over the heads of the demonstrators.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai issued a statement to call for calm and said the government 8216;8216;will do its utmost to protect the lives of the people and also their property.8217;8217;Abdullah Fahim, a Health Ministry spokesman, said there were no foreigners among the wounded or dead.

Earlier in the day, more than 50 Taliban guerrillas were killed in a US-led air strike on a mosque in the southern province of Helmand on Monday, a provincial official said.

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8216;8216;The Taliban were meeting in a mosque when the bombardment took place in a pre-dawn attack in Kajaki district of province,8217;8217; Amir Mohammad Akhundzada, deputy provincial governor said. 8216;8216;More than 50 of them have been killed.8217;8217;

US-led forces could not be contacted immediately for comment and Akhundzada said a joint ground and air operation involving US-led and Afghan forces was going on in the district to hunt Taliban as part of the ongoing operation against them.