An Afghan man who emerged ablaze from a stolen truck as an aircraft carrying US defence secretary Leon Panetta landed at a base in Afghanistan has died from burns suffered in the incident.
The incident, an extraordinary security breach inside a military base in Afghanistan's south, coincided with the unannounced visit of the Pentagon chief yesterday.
It came three days after 16 villagers, most of them women and children, were killed in a shooting rampage blamed on a US soldier that has raised questions about strategy in Afghanistan and heightened calls for an early withdrawal.
The Afghan, a contractor who worked as a translator, had apparently tried to ram the truck into a group of Marines standing on a runway ramp at Camp Bastion in Helmand province, US lieutenant general Curtis Scaparrotti said.
The officer, second in command of US forces in Afghanistan, told reporters travelling with Mr Panetta he doubted the man had any idea Mr Panetta was arriving at the heavily guarded base.
Mr Panetta and his delegation were unharmed.
"I personally don't believe that it had any connection with the secretary's arrival," Scaparrotti said."My personal opinion is yes, that he had an intent to harm, that he tried to hit the people on the ramp," he said.
Mr Panetta is the highest-ranking US official to visit Afghanistan since the shooting rampage in Kandahar province, which is next to Helmand and is the birthplace of the Taliban.
The US staff sergeant accused of killing the 16 civilians had been flown out of Afghanistan to Kuwait, according to officials.
Reuters