Afghans demand trial of NATO soldier over shooting

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, July 3 (Reuters) NATO should put on trial a soldier who fired at civilians, resulting in the deaths of two and wounding of four in Afghanistan's southern Kandahar city, a senior provincial official said today.

NATO yesterday said one of its soldiers in a convoy fired at an Afghan motorcyclist who approached the vehicles ''in a threatening manner'', wounding him.

It said there were no other casualties from the incident, which coincides with the rising violence in recent months in which Taliban have used motorbikes for carrying out suicide attacks against foreign and Afghan forces.

But Kandahar's governor, Assadullah Khalid, said two civilians were killed and four wounded in the firing and the soldier involved should be tried.

''We should be put in the picture about the trial and the families of the victims must be compensated,'' Khalid told a news conference.

He said provincial authorities have spoken about the matter with NATO troops in Kandahar -- a bastion for Taliban who were overthrown in 2001.

NATO could not be reached for comment, but troops operate in the country under an agreement with the government that generally does not subject them to national law.

The shooting comes during rising anger among Afghans over air strikes by foreign forces which, according to aid groups and the government, have killed more than 300 civilians this year.

Civilian deaths are a sensitive issue for President Hamid Karzai's government and have triggered protests demanding expulsion of foreign troops and Karzai's resignation.

The call for the trial of the NATO soldier is apparently the first made by a provincial official.

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