U.S. fire scatters crowd after Afghan bomb

By Noor Mohammad Sherzai

BATI KOT, Afghanistan (Reuters) - At least one U.S. soldier opened fire to scatter a crowd of civilians and police on Thursday after failed suicide bomb attacks on a U.S. military convoy, the U.S. military and witnesses said.

A car bomb targeting a U.S. convoy in the village of Bati Kot, 15 km (9 miles) east of Jalalabad, killed the driver, two passengers and a nearby civilian, but none of the soldiers was hurt, the U.S. military said in a statement.

Afghan police securing the site in eastern Afghanistan were then attacked by an insurgent dressed in police uniform. He was killed by the police and coalition troops before he could detonate his suicide vest, the statement said.

To add to the confusion, a fire brigade vehicle speeding to the scene rammed into the U.S. and Afghan vehicles.

"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," said Reuters correspondent Noor Mohammad Sherzai.

A spokesman for U.S.-led coalition forces said only one soldier had opened fire. "A U.S. servicemen fired two shots and those shots were away from the crowd and not directed toward the crowd," said Major Joe Klopple.

The shots were fired to disperse the crowd out of concern for their safety because of what was thought to be another approaching suicide bomber, the U.S. statement said.

POLICE FLEE