December 8, 2003	Monday	Shawwal 13, 1424

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KABUL, Dec 7: Nine children were among 10 people killed in a US air attack on a suspected “terrorist” in southeast Afghanistan on Saturday, the US military said.

“Following the attack, coalition ground forces searching the area found the bodies of both the intended target and those of nine children nearby,” the US military said in a statement on Sunday from the coalition’s Bagram Air Base headquarters north of Kabul.

Coalition aircraft opened fire on the suspect at about 10:30am on Saturday south of the town of Ghazni, 130km southwest of the capital.

The suspect was believed to be responsible for recently killing two contractors working on the Kabul-Kandahar-Herat ring road, the military said.

“Coalition forces acted after developing extensive intelligence over an extended period of time that determined the known terrorist was at the isolated rural site,” the military said.

The coalition said a commission was being set up to investigate the deaths and said its forces “follow stringent rules of engagement to specifically avoid this type of incident while continuing to target terrorists” in Afghanistan.

“Coalition forces regret the loss of any innocent life,” it said.

US-led troops were remaining in the area and “over the next several days will make every effort to assist the families of the innocent casualties and determine the cause of the civilian deaths.”

Scores of civilians have been killed in the US-led bombing since the start of the US-led campaign against the Taliban regime and Al Qaeda fighters in Afghanistan in October 2001. The US has not previously offered compensation to families of innocent victims killed in a “war zone.”

Last month Afghan officials claimed eight civilians were killed in a coalition bombing raid in northeast Afghanistan.

Afghan officials in September said eight nomads were among 10 people killed by US bombing of a nomad camp in violence-wracked Zabul amid a massive anti-militant offensive by US and Afghan troops which left around 150 suspected militants dead. The US military is investigating the incident after initially denying any civilians were killed.

Eleven Afghan civilians were also killed on April 9 when their house was hit by a stray 1,000-pound laser-guided bomb in a US bombing raid against suspected Taliban in the mountains of southeast Paktika province.

After that incident rights watchdog Amnesty International said the US military should take urgent measures to avoid a repetition.—AFP