November 13, 2001	Tuesday	Shaba’an 26, 1422

TERMEZ (Uzbekistan), Nov 12: A weekend US air strike destroyed a large UN food convoy that was being delivered to civilians in Afghanistan’s central plains, a UN spokesman said on Monday.

No one was hurt in the bombardment, which occurred north of Kabul, Michael Huggins, spokesman for the UN World Food Program, told reporters on the Afghan-Uzbek border.

“There were 22 trucks with 330 metric tons of aid on the way to Bamyan (in central Afghanistan) that were hit by shrapnel from an aerial bombardment,” Huggins said.

“There were no casualties. It occurred when the trucks were stationary in a place called Shashpul, which is on the road to Bamyan,” Huggins said.

“Eighty per cent of the food was damaged, and is basically unusable,” he added.

Huggins said the food was being delivered in trucks commissioned in Pakistan.

“To lose it so close to its final destination is very disappointing,” the spokesman said.