Last Updated 11:03 a.m. ET
(CBS/AP) KABUL, Afghanistan - A U.S. service member came out of his base in southern Afghanistan on Sunday and started shooting Afghan civilians, the provincial governor said.
People were both killed and wounded in the shooting spree in Panjwai district of Kandahar province, Gov. Tooryalai Wesa told reporters.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai said 16 people were killed, including nine children and three women. he called the attack Sunday "an assassination" and demanded an explanation from the United States.
Speaking from Kabul, CBS News correspondent Mandy Clark reports that, according to an Afghan official, 11 civilians including women and children were killed in one home. He has been detained and an investigation is ongoing.
Clark said there is no indication of a motivation in the attack. "They haven't made any links to the victims and the soldiers, so it's very unclear why he went on this shooting rampage," said Clark.
A resident of the area where the shootings took place told an Associated Press reporter that 16 people were killed as the U.S. service member went into three different houses and started shooting. The villager said he had talked to the family members of the dead.
An AP photographer saw the bodies - some of them burned and some covered with blankets - in the villages of Alkozai and Balandi in Kandahar province's Panjwai district. The villages are about 500 yards away from a U.S. base.
Gen. John R. Allen, Commander of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), said in a statement, "I was shocked and saddened to hear of the shooting incident today in Kandahar Province. I offer my profound regret and deepest condolences to the victims and their families. I pledge to all the noble people of Afghanistan my commitment to a rapid and thorough investigation.,/P>
"In the meantime, we will continue to offer medical care for those who were injured in this shooting," Gen. Allen said. "We will maintain custody of the U.S. service member alleged to have perpetrated this attack. And we will cooperate fully with local Afghan authorities as we ascertain all the facts."
He said the "deeply appalling incident" in no way represents the values of ISAF and coalition troops, said he was absolutely dedicated to making sure anyone found to have committed wrong-doing is held fully accountable.
Gen. Carsten Jacobson, a spokesperson for the ISAF, speaking in a video posted to Natochannel and on YouTube,a also expressed "deep regrets" and "sorrow" for the members of the families of those who perished.
He did not did not link this shooting to other recent incidents, such the burning of Qurans and the subsequent protests which led to the deaths of six U.S. service members and more than two dozen Afghan civilians. ,/P>
"Of course it is a very tragic event, it looks like the act of an individual, but we have to find out what the background behind it is . . . look into the case in detail."
Appearing on "Face the Nation," CBS News national security correspondent David Martin said that motive may be besides the point: "The number one mission for U.S. troops in Afghanistan is to protect Afghan civilians. For an American soldier just to open fire on Afghan civilians just undercuts the mission of the U.S. troops in Afghanistan."
A man points to bloodstains where witnesses say Afghans were killed by a U.S. service member, in Panjwai, Kandahar province Afghanistan, Sunday, March 11, 2012.
(Credit: AP Photo/Allauddin Khan) Sediq Sediqqi of the Afghan Interior Ministry condemned the attack, telling Reuters, "We condemn the shootings in the strongest terms possible and this will be fully investigated."
This attack could not have come at a worse time, said CBS News correspondent Mandy Clark. Last month, Afghans held mass protests against American troops after U.S. soldiers mistakenly burned copies of the Quran. Six American soldiers were killed in retaliation attacks.
The worry now is how the Afghan public will react to this attack.
Also appearing on "Face the Nation" this morning, Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich said it was time for the U.S. to leave Afghanistan. "I think we have to reassess the entire region," he told Bob Schieffer. "I think we need to reconsider the whole mission. We need to understand that our being the middle of countries like Afghanistan is counter-productive. We are not in a position to force them to change."
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U.S. forces are investigating the shooting in cooperation with Afghan authorities, NATO spokesman Justin Brockhoff said. He said it was not clear if the alleged shooter knew the victims.
There were reports of protests following the shooting.
The shooting comes after weeks of tense relations between U.S. forces and their Afghan hosts following the burning of Qurans and other religious materials at an American base. Though U.S. officials apologized and said the burning was an accident, the incident sparked violent protests and attacks that killed some 30 people.
Meanwhile, a prominent Afghan women's rights activist said gunmen attacked her office in a western province overnight in an apparent assassination attempt.
Malalai Joya, a former Afghan lawmaker and vocal critic of both the Taliban and of criminality in the Afghan government, said the attack on her office in Farah province was the sixth attempt on her life to date.
Armed men tried to storm the compound late in the night on Saturday, she said. The attackers did not get into the building but two of her guards were seriously injured and are currently in the hospital.
Joya said she was in Kabul at the time but had planned a trip to Farah soon and news of that may have leaked out. She said she believes the attackers thought she was in the building.
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