US hands over detained Afghans to ease tensions

[dArKeR]

US military officials moved to defuse tension after a riot outside their main base by handing six villagers accused of being rebel bomb makers over to local Afghan authorities, officials said yesterday.
The riot -- unusual in an area that has been largely peaceful and pro-American -- was sparked on Tuesday after US forces detained the suspected insurgents in raids on their homes. Demonstrators said they were angry that US troops arrested the villagers without consulting local authorities.

In a statement on Tuesday, the US military said eight people had been detained, although local authorities said only six had been arrested.

More than 1,000 protesters chanting "Die America!" and throwing stones tried to batter down a gate at the Bagram base, where thousands of US and other foreign soldiers live behind razor-wire fences and land mines left from Afghanistan's civil war.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2005/07/28/2003265366