WASHINGTON, July 3: US President George W. Bush wants a “comprehensive” probe into reports that an errant US air attack in Afghanistan killed civilians and offers his “deep condolences” to the victims’ families, the White House said on Tuesday.

“On behalf of the American people, the president extends his deep condolences for the loss of innocent life no matter what the cause is determined to be,” spokesman Ari Fleischer said in a statement.

“We do not yet know what exactly happened and we are working very hard to find out,” Fleischer said, adding that a joint US-Afghan probe already underway “will result in a comprehensive report”.

“In the meantime, we are consulting with Afghan authorities on the humanitarian needs of the people in the area,” said Fleischer, who paid tribute to the “critical role” Afghans have played in Bush’s “war on terrorism”.

“The United States greatly appreciates their support in this vital struggle. Working together, our nations have made important progress in defeating terrorism and we have given Afghanistan the hope of a better tomorrow,” he said.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has asked US forces to take “every necessary measure” to avoid further civilian deaths, according to Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah.

Karzai urged the United States “to fully stop the repetition of such awkward incidents, and ensure that military operations aimed at finding terrorists do not harm civilians”, Abdullah told reporters here.

“It is understandable that there are possible civilian casualties in military operations,” he said. “But, an incident with such magnitude and such casualties under such conditions is by no means justifiable.”

His blunt criticism comes as Afghan and US officials, at odds over what led to Sunday night’s strike, came up with conflicting accounts of the incident.

On Tuesday, the Pentagon’s top leadership discounted an errant 900-kg bomb as the cause of the casualties, but did not rule out the possibility that an AC-130 gunship had reacted to shots fired at the wedding.

Local Afghan officials quoted eyewitnesses as saying that US aircraft flew over the village twice and started the bombing during the third run.—AFP