Civilians die in raid 'mistakes'

24 Oct, 2001 11:08 AM4 mins to read

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon is vowing to flush out any Afghan fighters who hide in residential areas to escape aerial attacks even as it acknowledges a few of its bombs accidentally struck civilian sites.

"There is not an intention to open or widen [air] attacks in the cities," Rear Admiral John Stufflebeem said.

"We will find other ways ... to get at those who might cowardly decide to hide in residential neighbourhoods."

Those "other ways" could include the use of commandos or other ground forces.

Stufflebeem said the Pentagon also was aiming at roads, trucks, petroleum facilities, food and other supplies that Afghanistan's Taleban leaders need to stay in power, but that choking them off "is going to be a very long and slow process."

His warning to al Qaeda and Taleban troops came as the Defence Department acknowledged stray bombs hit two more civilian areas in Afghanistan.

A Navy F/A-18 Hornet dropped a 450kg bomb in an open field near a senior citizens home outside the western city of Herat, Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clarke said.

The intended target was a vehicle storage building at an Army barracks about 90m from the home. Preliminary indications are that the weapon's guidance system malfunctioned, she said.

Clarke said she was not certain whether the incident corresponded to one reported by the United Nations, which said United States bombs hit a military hospital near Herat.

The Taleban had said a strike hit a Herat hospital and killed at least 100 people. UN spokeswoman Stephanie Bunker said it was not clear whether the military hospital was in use, and she had no information on casualties.

Clarke said a Navy F-14 Tomcat dropped two 225kg bombs that mistakenly hit a residential area northwest of Kabul, the Afghan capital.

The intended targets were military vehicles parked about 1km away. She said she did not know how many people may have been hurt or killed.

The Taleban say that the US bombs and missiles have killed more than 1000 people, many of them civilians. The Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press said yesterday that US bombs killed 52 people in a village near the southern city of Kandahar.

Stufflebeem said the US was prepared to find and strike any new training camps that Osama bin Laden's terrorist network might try to set up. British officials said nine al Qaeda camps had been destroyed, but Stufflebeem said he did not know how many terrorist sites had been hit.

US airstrikes continued with about the same intensity as the previous day, in which about 60 carrier-based strike aircraft, 10 long-range bombers and 10 land-based strike aircraft hit 11 planned target areas, officials said.

Many of the strikes were on Taleban positions north of Kabul, where so-called northern alliance forces are preparing for a possible push to the Afghan capitol.

In a Voice of America radio interview, Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the US would welcome any anti-Taleban push towards Kabul.

Afghan warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum said that his forces had attacked the Taleban near Mazar-i-Sharif. There has so far been no sign of any movement on the ground north of Kabul.

Stufflebeem cast doubt on the possibility of ending the air campaign before winter. "We don't think that's realistic," he said.

The Pentagon also disclosed new details about an incident during last weekend's commando raids into Afghanistan, in which an airfield was seized and documents taken from a Taleban compound that included a residence of Taleban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar.

An Army MH-47 special operations helicopter struck an unknown barrier while it was taking off from Afghanistan after the raid, shearing off its front landing gear, Clarke said. It continued the flight without incident and returned safely to an undisclosed base. No one on board was injured, she said.

The chopper's wheels were displayed on television by the Taleban, which claimed to have shot down an American helicopter and foiled the raid.

Meanwhile, Israeli soldiers killed three Palestinians yesterday in Tulkarem, one of the six West Bank towns Israel is holding, defying demands from the US to withdraw.

US President George W. Bush had urged Israel to end an incursion into Palestinian-controlled areas that threatens to undermine efforts to win Muslim support for his global war on terrorism.

- REUTERS

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