U.S. Bombing Kills Three Afghan Civilians--Mayor

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KABUL (Reuters) - At least three Afghan civilians were killed and several wounded in a U.S. air attack in Afghanistan (news - web sites)'s southeastern province of Khost early on Friday, an official said.

The overnight raid in Tani village to the south of Khost town came after a patrol of U.S. soldiers was fired at, Khost's Mayor, Jalil Ahmad Hasani, told Reuters. U.S. patrols often call in close air support when they come under fire.


"We have no exact details yet. But the report we have indicates that three civilians, including two women, have been killed in the aerial bombardment and several others wounded," he said.


A U.S. military spokeswoman in Kabul said she was unaware of the incident.


According to the Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press (AIP), seven people were killed in the bombardment in the early hours of Friday, and the house they were in was flattened.


Eyewitnesses told AIP that a resident in the house had opened fire on U.S. soldiers following an argument.


Hasani said the U.S. military suffered no casualties, and a government team had been sent to the scene to investigate.


It was the first reported incident of civilian deaths in a U.S. attack since January, when 11 Afghans, including four children, were killed in a U.S. air raid on the village of Sawghataq, in the central province of Uruzgan.


In one of the most controversial incidents, 48 people died and 117 were wounded when U.S. planes attacked a wedding party in the town of Deh Rawud, also in Uruzgan, in July 2002. The U.S. military said a gunship had come under fire.


American forces have been blamed by angry Iraqis for attacking a wedding party on Wednesday near the Syrian border killing dozens of guests. The military maintains that foreign fighters died in the attack.


While popular resistance to occupying forces in Iraq (news - web sites) is fiercer than it is in Afghanistan, the U.S. military in Kabul will be keen to avoid any scandals.


It is already facing unprecedented scrutiny of its secretive network of detention centers following fresh allegations of prisoner abuse. This week it launched a sweeping review of practices and conditions at the 20 or so jails.


About 20,000 U.S.-led troops are in Afghanistan hunting militants from the ousted Taliban regime and the al Qaeda network it once sheltered. Some troops are based in forward posts, including in Khost, concentrated on the Afghan-Pakistan border.


More than 700 people have been killed in a wave of violence in Afghanistan since August. Many of the attacks are blamed on Taliban remnants opposed to the presence of foreign forces in the country and to the central government in Kabul.