New Delhi: The Taliban has vowed to avenge the killings after 16 Afghan civilians including 9 children died when a US soldier ran amok in two villages near his camp on Sunday.
The soldier later returned to his base and turned himself in. US President Barack Obama reportedly called Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai and expressed shock over the killings.
The US has called the shooting spree in Kandahar by an American soldier an "isolated incident", and said no others were involved.
Kabul and Washington had made significant progress in negotiations on a strategic partnership agreement that would allow American advisers and special forces to stay in Afghanistan after most foreign combat troops leave at the end of 2014.
The attack was the latest incident to ignite Afghan anger at the United States, coming on the heels of US soldiers' burning of copies of the Koran on a NATO base last month, and other incidents that have intensified America's perception problem in Afghanistan.
US President Barack Obama and his NATO partners intend to pull most of their troops out of Afghanistan by the end of 2014, leaving an inexperienced local army in charge.
Officials in Washington denied suggestions that the killings might alter US plans.
"I do not believe this incident will change the timetable of a strategy that was designed and is being implemented in a way to allow for the withdrawal of US forces, to allow for their transfer of lead security authority over to the Afghans," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters.
The soldier, who has not been publicly identified, is now in US custody in Kandahar, a congressional source said on condition of anonymity. After leaving the Belambai base, the soldier began shooting people in two nearby villages, the source said. Five Afghans were wounded in addition to those killed.
The motive for the shooting was not immediately clear. The soldier was part of the 2-3 Infantry, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, from the Lewis-McChord base in Washington state. After serving three tours in Iraq, he arrived in Afghanistan in December and has been at the Belambai base since February 1.
General John Allen, who commands US and NATO troops in Afghanistan, told CNN that an Afghan soldier reported seeing the soldier leave the base, and that a search party was being assembled when reports of the attacks started to come in.
Allen declined to comment on reports that the sergeant had suffered a brain injury in the past.
US officials, who have rushed to distance the shootings from the efforts of the 90,000-strong US force that over the past year has beaten the Taliban back from much of southern Afghanistan, say an investigation was under way but did not know when it would conclude.
Afghanistan's parliament condemned the killings, saying Afghans had run out of patience with the actions of foreign forces and the lack of oversight. Civilian deaths have long been one of the main sources of tension between Kabul and Washington.
"We have benefited little from the foreign troops here but lost everything - our lives, dignity and our country to them," said Haji Najiq," a Kandahar shop owner.
"The explanation or apologies will not bring back the dead. It is better for them to leave us alone and let us live in peace."
With additional information from Reuters
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