Just days after an Army staff sergeant allegedly killed 16 Afghan civilians in a shooting rampage, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta visited Afghanistan to meet with government officials and U.S. troops. NBC's Richard Engel reports.
By msnbc.com staff and news services
Updated at 7:59 a.m. ET: KABUL, Afghanistan -- The U.S. soldier who allegedly shot 16 Afghan villagers was caught on surveillance video that showed him walking up to his base and raising his arms in surrender, Afghan officials who viewed the footage said.
The video reportedly was shot from a blimp and showed the soldier walking up to his base covered in a traditional Afghan shawl. The soldier removed the shawl and put his weapon on the ground, then raised his arms in surrender,?unidentified Afghan officials told Reuters and The Associated Press.
The video had been shown to investigators to help dispel a widely held belief among Afghans, including many members of parliament, that more than one soldier must have been involved because of the high death toll, the officials told journalists.?
Officials: US soldier in Afghanistan shooting spree said 'I did it'
The military has detained an Army staff sergeant in connection with Sunday's massacre.
Angry at foreign troops, frustrated with their government and tired of war, villagers recounted the tragedy to a delegation sent to the scene by President Hamid Karzai on Tuesday. Two who lost relatives insisted that not one -- but at least two -- soldiers took part in the shootings.
Villagers who witnessed the methodical killing are asking for an execution and the U.S. is reportedly considering charges that would carry the death penalty for the soldier who allegedly killed 16 Afghan civilians. NBC's Richard Engel reports.
Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta arrived in Afghanistan on Wednesday?to meet?with troops, commanders and? government officials.
A motorcycle bomb went off in Kandahar city in southern Afghanistan, killing an Afghan intelligence soldier and wounding two, as well as a civilian, while a roadside bomb killed 8 civilians in neighboring Helmand province, officials said, as Panetta kicked off a two-day trip by visiting troops.
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The visit was planned months ago, long before the weekend slaughter that claimed the lives of more than a dozen villagers, including women and children. But the trip propels Panetta into the center of escalating anti-American anger and sets the stage for some difficult discussions with Afghan leaders.
Panetta told troops that the weekend killings by what U.S. and Afghan officials have said was a lone rogue soldier would not undermine relations with Afghanistan.
"As tragic as these acts of violence have been, they do not define the relationship between the coalition and Afghan forces, and the Afghan people," he told soldiers at Camp Leatherneck, the main Marine base in the volatile southern province.
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"We will be tested, we will be challenged. We'll be challenged by our enemy, we'll be challenged by ourselves, we'll be challenged by the hell of war," Panetta said.
Panetta and other U.S. officials say the shooting spree should not derail the U.S. and NATO strategy of a gradual withdrawal of troops by the end of 2014. But it has further soured relations with war-weary Afghans, jeopardizing the U.S. strategy of working closely with Afghan forces so they can take over their country's security.
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Panetta's arrival in Helmand -- where U.S. Marines and British soldiers are battling a resilient insurgency -- came a day after the first protests over Sunday's massacre flared in the eastern city of Jalalabad. Some 2,000 demonstrators chanted "Death to America" and demanded Karzai reject a planned strategic pact that would allow U.S. advisers and possibly special forces to remain beyond the pullout of most NATO combat troops by the end of 2014.
The Associated Press, Reuters and msnbc.com staff contributed to this report.
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