A coalition military vehicle smashed into a motorbike in the Afghan capital yesterday, killing a man in the same area where a similar crash last month triggered deadly protests, a government official said.
It was the third traffic accident involving US-led forces in the capital since the May 29 crash in which up to five civilians were killed and which caused a day of rioting throughout Kabul that left several more dead.
"One civilian was killed and one was wounded when a coalition armored vehicle hit a motorbike today in the north of the city," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The armored vehicle had been coming down a pass into the city when it crashed into the motorbike at about 6:30am in the suburb of Khair Khana, he said.
Police and coalition forces secured the area, keeping people away. Security officials prevented journalists from going to the scene of the accident, with at least one detained for several hours.
The coalition said the motorbike had suddenly slowed down in front of a truck that was towing another vehicle. One of the vehicles flipped down a 5m embankment.
It could not confirm casualties but said there were "injuries at the scene, to include the possible death of a child."
Local residents said one of the trucks had landed on a mudbrick home.
In the last accident in the area, a US truck drove over a civilian car and killed up to five people, sparking riots in which US troops opened fire in self-defense, according to the coalition.
At least 12 people were killed and scores wounded in rioting that later spread throughout the city. Dozens of offices, along with government and public property, were set ablaze or looted.
In other developments, President Hamid Karzai appealed yesterday to Afghanistan's neighbors for help in ridding the country of the "evil" of opium production which is trafficked in networks spreading across the region.
Karzai made the call in a message to a meeting of officials from the region, including Iran and Pakistan which are the main conduits for Afghanistan's opium -- most of which ends up in Europe.
Afghanistan's counter-narcotics Minister Habibullah Qaderi said most of the chemicals used to turn opium into heroin came to Afghanistan from other countries, notably Pakistan.
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