20 January 2004	Tuesday	27 Ziqa'ad 1424

KANDAHAR, Jan 19: Eleven people, including four children, are killed in a pre-dawn US air assault on a village home, the governor of a province in southern Afghanistan says.

The attack occurred at around 4am on Sunday, a day after US forces hunting for Taliban insurgents had searched Saghatho village, where the home is located, said Abdul Rahman, chief of the Char Chino district in the Uruzgan province.

"They were simple villagers. They were not Taliban. I don't know why the US (forces) bombed this home. We have informed our authorities," he said over telephone in Kandahar.

Maj. Steven R. Moon, a spokesman for the US military in Kabul, had no immediate comment. The governor of Uruzgan, Jan Mohammed Khan, confirmed Rahman's account that four men, four children and three women were killed in a US bombing.

He told AP that US authorities had told him they spotted ammunition during their search of the village, which apparently raised suspicions. During the search, "the people were afraid, they started running," Khan said.

"The Americans bombed this home," he said. Mr Rahman said the 11 victims were buried at 9am on Sunday in the village, where residents were "very afraid and very angry."-APP