KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - More than 250 Afghans were arrested after a riot in Kabul last week that killed about 20 people, the intelligence chief said Wednesday. A roadside bomb killed three Afghan troops, and the U.S.-led coalition confirmed the deaths of two American soldiers.Amrullah Saleh said that 141 Afghans remain in custody and that 52 have confessed to crimes committed during the May 29 riot, which was sparked by a deadly crash involving a U.S. military vehicle.
A U.S. military spokesman, Col. Tom Collins, meanwhile, said Afghan investigators will have "full access" to U.S. equipment and to soldiers for interviews during the inquiry into the crash. Collins told a news conference that although more than 2.5 million people live in Kabul, only about 1,000 people took part in the riot. Saleh, speaking at a separate news conference, said that some people were forced to participate by small gangs wielding guns.
Saleh said he could not yet say if a specific group - one opposed to the government of President Hamid Karzai, for instance - was behind the riot. He did say Afghan authorities had identified 10 people who led or encouraged the demonstrators.
Collins, who was also asked if a certain group was behind the riot, said officials "know for a fact that there were agitators in the crowd who worked to incite the crowd to get them riled up."