Families of US soldier's Afghan victims get $50,000

Relatives of 17 people shot dead in a rampage by a US soldier in southern Afghanistan have been paid tens of thousands of dollars in compensation, a tribal chief and government officials said Sunday.

Relatives of 17 people shot dead in a rampage by a US soldier in southern Afghanistan have been paid tens of thousands of dollars in compensation, a tribal chief and government officials said Sunday.

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The money - provided by the US military - was handed over at a private ceremony at the Kandahar provincial governor's office, they said.

"The elders called me and said they were paid $50,000 per person for the dead and $11,000 for the injured per person," Haji Agha Lalai, a tribal chief and a member of the Kandahar provincial council, said.

The killings - mostly of women and children - in Panjwai district are thought to be the deadliest crime by a US soldier during the decade-long conflict and have tested Washington and Kabul's already tense relationship to the limit.

The US is keen to draw a line under the massacre earlier this month as far as it can and the sums - around $900,000 in total - amount to a fortune in rural Afghanistan.

Afghan government officials speaking on condition of anonymity confirmed the payments but differed slightly on the amounts, citing them as 2.3 million Afghanis ($46,000) each for the families of the dead and 500,000 Afghanis for the injured.