US troops kill Afghan civilians

At least 24 civilians were also wounded in the incident in the eastern province of Nangarhar.

A suicide bomber in a minivan packed with explosives rammed the convoy and armed men opened fire from three different points in a "complex" attack, US officials said.

There were no reports of casualties among the US troops and it is unclear why they opened fire on civilians.

Hundreds of Afghans protested at the scene of the killings, blocking the main road between the Afghan capital, Kabul, and the Pakistan border and throwing rocks at police.

Many chanted: "Death to America! Death to Karzai!" in a reference to the Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president.

Pedestrians 'shot at'

More than a half dozen Afghans injured in the shooting told the Associated Press news agency that US soldiers had shot at pedestrians and passing cars along a 5km stretch of one of eastern Afghanistan's busiest highways.

"They were firing everywhere, and they even opened fire on 14 to 15 vehicles passing on the highway," said Tur Gul, 38, who was shot twice in the hand as he stood by the roadside.

"They opened fire on everybody, the ones inside the vehicles and the ones on foot."

One man told Al Jazeera five members of his family were killed in the shooting

"American bullets murdered my family ... it's tyranny and injustice, he said."

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