- Local Afghans are angry at both Americans and Afghan security forces, a villager says
- Afghanistan's parliament demands a public trial of the suspect
- Official: The U.S. soldier has served tours in Iraq but is in Afghanistan for first time
- The attack fuels concerns of fresh unrest following recent riots over Quran burnings
Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- The Afghan Taliban vowed Monday to exact revenge for the killing of 16 civilians, allegedly by an American soldier who went on a house-to-house shooting rampage Sunday in two villages near his base.
Afghanistan's parliament, meanwhile, demanded a public trial for the suspect, who is accused of killing nine children, three women and four men.
"We strongly request the government of America to punish this wild act and have a public trial in front of the people of Afghanistan," lawmakers said in a statement Monday.
The Taliban called U.S. forces "sick-minded American savages," warning in an online statement that the group would mete out punishment for the "barbaric actions."
U.S. officials have expressed shock and sadness over the attack. Afghan leaders have angrily condemned it. President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan called the attack an "unforgivable" crime.
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Public trial for Afghan killing spree?People in the area of the killings are angry at both Americans and Afghan security forces, whom they accuse of failing to protect them, villager Muhammad Wali said.
"Villagers were cursing at them," Wali said. He asserted that Afghan security was "here to protect us, but (they) are protecting the Americans only."
"The people in these villages are scared, and we don't know what is going to happen next. ... They saw nothing except the Americans going and killing them in their homes," he said.
The killings could intensify the rage that sparked deadly riots directed at international forces last month over the burning of Qurans by U.S. troops.
The soldier, an Army staff sergeant, acted alone and turned himself in after shooting the civilians, according to officials from NATO's International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF. He is in U.S. custody as investigators try to establish what motivated him.
He is in his mid-30s and has served several tours in Iraq, but he is on his first deployment to Afghanistan, said a U.S. military official, who asked not to be named talking about an ongoing investigation.
He arrived in Afghanistan in January, the source said.
The suspect is from Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state, a military official said. He worked in force protection at his outpost, and is a conventional army soldier supporting the Green Berets, according to a second military official who asked not to be named because of the investigation.
The probe is now being led by the Army's Criminal Investigation Command. The suspect was moved Monday from the outpost where he served to detention in a larger U.S. location in Afghanistan, said the second official, who declined to name the new location.
The attacker's mental stability and medical history are among "the things the investigators are looking at," said Capt. John Kirby, a spokesman for the NATO-led force.
"This was a soldier who had been in the Army some time, had deployed before." Kirby said. "This wasn't his first deployment. But with respect to specific motives, we just can't say right now."
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