Karzai tells US to review air attacks
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Your support makes all the difference.The Afghan government has demanded that America reviews its operations to hunt down al-Qa'ida fighters after US forces killed and injured wedding guests in the most deadly friendly fire incident since the "war against terror" was launched last October.
President Hamid Karzai called US commanders to his office and "strongly advised them of the grave concern and sorrow over the incident". In a statement, he called on coalition forces to "take all necessary measures to ensure military activities to capture terrorist groups do not harm innocent Afghan civilians".
He spoke after dozens of civilians were killed in an assault by American forces involving a B-52 bomber and an AC-130 gunship. Some reports say up to 120 people were killed, though most estimates put the death toll at about 40.
More than 36 hours after the operation was launched in the early hours on Monday, details of what exactly happened were far from clear. In Washington, the Pentagon said a team of American and Afghan investigators had been dispatched to the scene for a full inquiry, though they were not expected to arrive at the village of Kakarak, close to Tarin Kot, 100 miles north of Kandahar, until today. Defence officials said most of the civilians had probably been killed by fire from the AC-130 that was called in by the special forces, who said they were involved in a firefight with al-Qa'ida fighters. In addition, coalition aircraft were involved in a bombing run on a nearby cave complex and one of a series of seven 2,000lb bombs dropped went astray.
An official said: "Early evidence suggests it was the AC-130, although we know one of seven bombs dropped by a B-52 in the area went awry."
Another official said the crew of the AC-130, equipped with heavy 105mm cannon and machine-gun fire, was "fairly certain" it was being fired on from the ground and responded.
But in Kabul, Afghan officials stood by initial reports that those who died were wedding guests who might have been mistaken for hostile forces after firing into the air during the celebrations.
Abdullah Abdullah, the Foreign Minister, said coalition military operations against al-Qa'ida and Taliban fugitives must continue. But the entire procedure for launching attacks "should be reviewed to avoid such incidents".
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