BAGRAM AIR BASE: Fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Omar may have been in the immediate vicinity of a US bombing raid on July 1 that killed dozens of civilians attending a wedding celebration, according to the commander of US forces in Afghanistan.

In an interview, Lt. Gen. Dan K. McNeill said publicly for the first time that the raid was connected with the hunt for Omar and cited intelligence reports that Omar “may still be in the area” of Uruzgan province where the US operation mistakenly attacked civilians.

In the past, US officials have declined to say what the forces were looking for during the Uruzgan raid, and although McNeill said that Omar was “not the target of this operation,” he acknowledged that the raid in the Deh Rawod district was aimed at generating more specific information about Omar’s whereabouts.

McNeill’s comments underscored the continuing volatility of the situation in Afghanistan and came as news services reported that Afghan President Hamid Karzai had called in US troops to replace his Afghan bodyguards.

Diplomats said the move followed “serious threats” against Karzai, some believed to have come from within his Cabinet. The approximately 50 guards who were replaced were part of the 10,000-strong force of fighters loyal to Defence Minister Mohammed Fahim.

In Washington, Defence Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld confirmed the move, calling it a “short-term” measure to ensure stability in this country fragmented by 23 years of war.

Uruzgan is the home province of Omar. McNeill’s comments on Monday suggested that the Americans believed they were closing in on Omar when the attack went awry.

Briefing reporters at the Pentagon, Rumsfeld said he had watched 10 or 15 minutes of a four-hour video of the Deh Rawod attack shot from an AC-130 gunship and saw ground fire aimed at the aircraft.—Dawn/The Washington Post News Service.