Afghan massacre: US soldier 'acted alone' in Kandahar
Man who lost several family members telephone appeal to President Karzai
A US soldier accused of killing 16 Afghan civilians in a night-time rampage acted alone, US officials say.
The Pentagon said in a media briefing that the killings, in the early hours of Sunday, were "tragic" but insisted it was an isolated incident.
The soldier has not been named, but he is reported to be in his 30s with three children.
Afghan MPs earlier passed a motion saying civilians have lost patience with foreign troops.
The incident has put more strain on relations between Afghans and foreign forces.
Anti-US sentiment is already high after soldiers burned some copies of the Koran at a Nato base in Kabul last month.
US officials have repeatedly apologised for the Koran incident, which sparked a series of protests and attacks that killed at least 30 people and six US troops.
The Taliban has promised revenge attacks for the latest killings. A tribal elder told the BBC that he would not be calling for protests.
Experienced soldier
Details about the shootings are still unclear, but the American soldier left his base in the southern province of Kandahar in the early hours of Sunday.
He walked into several houses and apparently shot and killed 16 people, mostly women and children.
One witness said she saw the man drag a woman out of her house and repeatedly hit her head against a wall.
Officials have offered no explanation for the incident, but reports suggest the soldier might have been drunk, or had suffered a nervous breakdown.
The Pentagon confirmed that he turned himself in to the military authorities after he returned to base.
Defence officials said that the soldier was from the conventional army, not special forces, and confirmed that he had completed multiple tours in Iraq but was on his first tour of duty in Afghanistan.
The Pentagon said the soldier's name would not be released while the investigation was going on, but added that there was "every indication" that he had acted alone.
US media reported officials as saying that he was attached to a unit based at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, in the north-western state of Washington.
That same base was home to the so-called "kill team", a rogue unit led by Sgt Calvin Gibbs that kept grisly souvenirs of Afghans they killed.
Nato and US officials have insisted that there would be no change in strategy in Afghanistan after Sunday's attacks.
Speaking at the United Nations, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the killings underscored that the US had faced a "difficult and complex few weeks" in Afghanistan.
"This terrible incident does not change our steadfast dedication to protecting the Afghan people and doing everything we can to help build a strong and stable Afghanistan," she told reporters.
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