And it’s not an unimportant story, either. He claims, quoting himself as a source, that U.S. troops opened fire on innocent civilians. His using himself as a source is the only evidence he provides of the incident.
By Noor Mohammad Sherzai
BATI KOT, Afghanistan (Reuters) – U.S. troops opened fire on civilians near the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad on Thursday after a failed suicide car bomb attack on their convoy, a Reuters witness said.
There was no immediate comment on the reported incident either from U.S.-led coalition forces or from the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).
The witness said three suicide bombers in one vehicle attacked a convoy of U.S. troops in the village of Bati Kot, 15 km (9 miles) east of Jalalabad, but none of the soldiers was hurt.
Two of the bombers were immediately killed in the blast. The third, dressed in a police uniform, survived only to be shot dead by troops, the witness said.
A fire brigade vehicle arriving at speed at the scene then suffered brake failure and rammed into the U.S. vehicles. Troops inside then opened fire, wounding a number of bystanders.
“I saw everything,” said Reuters correspondent Noor Mohammad Sherzai. “I saw the suicide bomb attack …
“I saw the fire brigade vehicle rushing to the area at top speed, somehow its brakes failed and hit one police vehicle and coalition vehicles, then the Americans started firing at the people and everyone lay flat on the ground and then fled the area.”
Sherzai said a number of people had been wounded in the attack, but he did not know how many. “I ran away to save my own life.”
Sherzai and other reporters at the scene said many shots were fired and Afghan police were among those fleeing the scene.
“I was running away as fast as I could, but some of the police overtook me,” Sherzai said. The police, he said, “were very angry because the Americans were shooting and wanted to shoot back but others stopped them”.
Ok, they’re not even trying to be unreliable anymore.


by Stephan Tawney on September 27, 2007