BBC News with David Austin
A gunman has shot dead two senior American military officers inside the heavily guarded Afghan interior ministry in Kabul. Reports say those killed are a colonel and a major, and the gunman escaped. The Afghan defence minister has apologised for the killings, and a Pentagon statement said the United States condemned the attack in the strongest possible terms. Jonathan Blake reports from Washington.
The reaction from Washington has been strong and swift. The Department of Defence says the killings are unacceptable and are condemned by the United States in the strongest possible terms. The Pentagon says the Afghan defence minister called his US counterpart Leon Panetta to offer his
condolences
and apologise. Now the US is urging the Afghan government to
take action
to protect Nato forces after what it described as "a challenging week in the country".
The Taliban said they shot the Americans
in retaliation for
the burning of copies of the Koran by soldiers at a US base last week.
Reports from Pakistan say the authorities have started
demolishing
the compound in the
garrison
city of Abbottabad where Osama bin Laden was killed by American forces last year. Ilyas Khan reports from Islamabad.
Residents have told the BBC that a
curfew
has been placed on the people in the area, and they have been asked not to leave their homes. But many are reporting seeing and hearing