2 US troops shot in Kabul; NATO pulls workers

By DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press – 18 hours ago

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A gunman killed two American military advisers with shots to the back of the head Saturday inside a heavily guarded ministry building, and NATO ordered military workers out of Afghan ministries as protests raged for a fifth day over the burning of copies of the Quran at a U.S. army base.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the Interior Ministry attack, saying it was retaliation for the Quran burnings, after the U.S. servicemen — a lieutenant colonel and a major — were found dead on the floor of an office that only people who know a numerical combination can get into, Afghan and Western officials said.
Rhe two American service members were found by another foreigner who went into the room, according to the Afghan official, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to disclose details about the shootings. They were shot in the back of the head, according to Western officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose the information. Authorities were poring over security camera video for clues, the Afghan official said.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid identified the shooter as one of their sympathizers, Abdul Rahman. He said an accomplice inside the ministry helped Rahman get inside the compound to kill the Americans in retaliation for the Quran burnings.
“After the attack, Rahman informed us by telephone that he was able to kill four high-ranking American advisers,” Mujahid said. The Taliban often inflate death tolls and sometimes claim responsibility for killings they did not conduct.
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U.S. commander pulls back advisors from Afghan ministries [They should pull oss all AMericans guarding karsi, let his own ‘guard’ him, he’d be dead in hours]

REPORTING FROM KABUL, AFGHANISTAN, AND DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES — The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan ordered all Western advisors withdrawn from Afghan government ministries Saturday after two American military officers were shot and killed in a heavily secured compound inside the Afghan Interior Ministry.
The abrupt pullout, a serious blow to strategic cooperation between the NATO coalition and the Afghan government, came as a fifth straight day of protests raged over the burning of Korans at a U.S. military base.
In the latest display of unrest, angry crowds laid siege to a provincial governor’s compound in eastern Afghanistan and a United Nations office in the country’s north.
Afghan authorities reported at least five more deaths, mainly in clashes between Afghan security forces and demonstrators, some of them armed.
Saturday’s fatalities brought the death toll since the riots broke out Tuesday to more than 30, four of them Americans, with hundreds more people injured. The outbreak of violence is one of the country’s most sustained instances of civil unrest in nearly a decade of conflict.
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