High level Afghan government officials went to the site of the deadly massacre where the U.S. soldier went on a bloody shooting rampage.

As the govenment delegation was exiting a mosque in the Panjwayi district and offering condolences to the villagers, gunmen opened fire on the delegation with automatic weapons and rocket propelled grenades. The delegates had spoke with the relatives of the slain villagers earlier, but their assurances that justice will be dealt to the gunman in the mass slaying were met with anger and disbelief. The ambush on the delegates was carried out by insurgents on motorcycles. The attack lasted approximately 20 minutes.

None of the high level officials were injured, although one member of the Afghan security forces was killed and another wounded. The delegation included two of the Afghan presidents brothers. The delegation quickly exited the town and returned to Kandahar City 20 miles away. They arrived there safely with no further incident. During their trip to the mourning community, officials had been offering the equivalent of $2,000 to the families of each of the slain civilians and $1,000 to those that were wounded in the weekend attack.There wee calls for Karzai to set aside negotiations for a strategic partnership deal and a quick public trial of the American gunman.

Insugents mirrored that sentiment and also declared that all allied soldiers captured by the insurgents would be beheaded. The Taliban stated “The Islamic Emirate mujahedeen, as the true defenders of our oppressed people, warn the Americans that nothing will content us but avenging every single one of the martyrs, with the help of God, by killing and beheading your sadist soldier in every inch of the country.”

Thus far, the weekend incident carried out by a lone American gunman this weekend has yet to spawn wide-spread protests, several hundred people have turned out in protest in the eastern city of Jalalabad. There, protesters shouted “Death to America!” and “Death to Jews! while burning President Obama in effigy. Images of the massacred women and children have been widely posted on social networking sites and on television stations in the country.

The Afghan government intially denied that an attack on the officials had taken place, their media center posted on Twitter, “Media! plz don’t publish things which aren’t confirmed, there is no combat, there is no fire, all is well. everything calm and safe.”