Video: US Defence Secretary: Afghan shooting rampage not unusual in war The Army staff sergeant is suspected of carrying out the killings before dawn in two villages close to his base in Panjwai district, considered the birthplace of the Taliban. Villagers have described him stalking from house to house in the middle of the night, opening fire on sleeping families and then burning some of the bodies of the dead afterward. Nine of the 16 killed were children, and three were women, according to Afghan officials. Contains video from Reuters.