Very different views of the same incident in Afghanistan

This is all early reporting, but take a look at the wide gulf between the AP and Reuters as to what happened around a suicide bombing in Afghanistan today. The Reuters article was written based on Afghan police accounts before a US statement; the AP was written off the US statements.

First, the Reuters version based on Afghani input:

"After a suicide bomber attacked their military convoy in Afghanistan on Sunday, U.S. troops opened fire and killed eight civilians and wounded more than 30, Afghan police said.....

There were no reports of casualties among the U.S. troops and it was unclear why they opened fire on civilians.....

Several people who identified themselves as residents of the Sangin district said up to 30 civilians had been killed in NATO bombing in the area.

They said women and children were among the dead....

After the shooting, hundreds of people staged a protest and blocked the road, residents and officials said.....

A spokesman for NATO in Kabul, Colonel Tom Collins, confirmed there had been fighting in the area but said he had no reports of civilian casualties.

NATO says it does everything it can to make sure civilians are not in the area of their operations, and it will call off attacks if there are any doubts. Nevertheless, accidents happen.

Now the AP version based on US officials:

A "complex" ambush involving a suicide car bomb and militant gunfire killed 16 Afghan civilians and wounded 25 people during an attack on a coalition convoy in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday, officials said.

The suicide bomber hit the American convoy with an explosives-packed minivan, said Noor Agha Zawok, the spokesman for the governor of Nangarhar province, and militants then fired gunfire from several directions. Coalition forces returned fire in defense of the attack, the U.S. military said.

It wasn't immediately clear if the Afghans were killed by the militants gunfire or that of the U.S. soldiers. One U.S. soldier was injured in the attack.

Hundreds of Afghans gathered to protest the violence, blocking the road and throwing rocks at police, with some demonstrators shouting "Death to America! Death to Karzai," a reference to President Hamid Karzai.

Maj. William Mitchell, a U.S. military spokesman, said the suicide attack was a "complex ambush," with militants firing guns at the soldiers from three different points, meaning Afghan civilians could have been killed or wounded by militants.

"We certainly believe it's possible that the incoming fire from the ambush was wholly or partly responsible for the civilian casualties," he said.....

U.S. soldiers at the scene deleted photos taken by a freelance photographer working for The Associated Press and video taken by a freelancer working for AP Television News. Neither the photographer nor the cameraman witnessed the suicide attack or the subsequent gunfire. It wasn't immediately known why the soldiers deleted the photos and videos. The U.S. military didn't immediately comment on the matter.

What really happened? I don't know, but that's two very different descriptions of one event.

A little later: The WaPo has a rewritten third version, different reporter, but also AP. (I'm just excerpting the new elements.

U.S. Marine Special Forces fleeing a militant ambush opened fire on civilians on a busy highway in eastern Afghanistan, wounded Afghans said. Up to 16 people were killed and 34 wounded in the violence, officials said.....

Mohammad Ishaq, 15, who was recovering in the Jalalabad hospital from two bullet wounds, said he and his father had pulled their vehicle over when they saw an American convoy approaching.

"When we parked our vehicle, when they passed us, they opened fire on our vehicle," said Ishaq, who was wounded in his left arm and his right ear. "It was a convoy of three American humvees. All three humvees were firing around."....

U.S. soldiers at the scene deleted photos..... It was not immediately known why the soldiers deleted the photos and videos. The U.S. military did not immediately comment.

The freelance photographer, Rahmat Gul, said he took photos of a four-wheel drive vehicle with four bodies that had been shot to death inside.

An American soldier then took Gul's camera and deleted the photos. Gul said he later received permission to take photos from another soldier, but that the first soldier came back and angrily told him to delete the photos again. Gul said the soldier then raised his fist as if he was going to strike Gul.....

Lt. Col. David Accetta, a coalition spokesman, said the attack demonstrated the militants' "blatant disregard for human life" by attacking forces in a populated area. NATO officials repeatedly say that suicide bombs aimed at international and Afghan forces kill far more civilians than soldiers.

I don't know why this is grabbing my attention, but it is.

Later: Last one, I think. (AP, by the same reporter as the one right above this.)

U.S. Marines fleeing a suicide bomber and militant ambush on Sunday opened fire on civilian cars and pedestrians on a busy highway in eastern Afghanistan, wounded Afghans said. Up to 10 people were killed and 35 wounded in the chaotic violence, officials said.....

As the Americans sped away, they treated every car and person along the highway as a potential attacker.....

"They were firing everywhere, and they even opened fire on 14 to 15 vehicles passing on the highway," said Tur Gul, 38, who was standing on the roadside by a gas station and was shot twice in his right hand. "They opened fire on everybody, the ones inside the vehicles and the ones on foot."

According to this version from Afghani sources, the soldiers fired on parked cars, pedestrians, everything. (The NYTimes covers the differences in the stories using the word "indiscriminately.")