WASHINGTON - The Pentagon has started an inquiry into whether a United States special forces raid had killed anti-Taleban fighters by mistake, while Iraq, Iran and North Korea have rejected President George W. Bush's charge they form an "axis of evil" in his war against terrorism.
In other developments, Pakistani police have detained a chief justice and a deputy foreign minister of the vanquished Taleban, and Afghan leader Hamid Karzai is urging the United Nations to expand an international force providing security in the capital, Kabul.
In an emotional visit to the New York site where the World Trade Center's twin towers once stood, Karzai laid a wreath and pledged to hunt down those responsible for the September 11 attacks.
There were fresh reports of conflict in Afghanistan yesterday.
Fighting erupted between rival tribal factions east of the Afghan town of Gardez, which is patrolled by US forces, while to the west about 300 Taleban and al Qaeda fighters gathered for an attack on the municipality.
The whereabouts of Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden, Washington's chief suspect in the attacks, remains a mystery.
Iran, Iraq and North Korea all rejected the accusation made by Bush in his first State of the Union address on Wednesday that they formed an "axis of evil", developing weapons of mass destruction to threaten America and the world.
In a later clarification, the White House said Bush "is not sending a signal that military action is imminent" against the three countries.
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said yesterday that Bush's use of the phrase "axis of evil" was "more rhetorical than historical" and not a link between these countries and the Second World War alliance among Germany, Japan and Italy, known as the Axis.
Iran said Bush's remarks smacked of a desire for hegemony, Iraq suggested they presaged a US attack on Baghdad and North Korea saw them as evidence of a "policy of aggression".
In Baghdad, a senior Iraqi parliamentarian said Bush was laying the groundwork for another US assault on Iraq, whose troops were driven from Kuwait in 1991 by a coalition led by his father, former President George Bush.
The Pentagon decision to investigate last week's raid came after officials originally dismissed reports of a botched raid that killed supporters of Karzai's Government, saying the mission had killed 15 Taleban fighters and destroyed an arms cache.
Afghan security sources in Kandahar gave details of what they said was an erroneous attack. "The commander, Abdul Qadoos, was killed with 17 other people when US troops attacked the district of Kharz in Uruzgan province last week," one source said.
- REUTERS
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Links: War against terrorism
Timeline: Major events since the Sept 11 attacks
'Axis' backlash as US probes raid
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