KABUL, Dec 10: The US military admitted on Wednesday that six Afghan children were killed in a bombing raid aimed at extremists, the second assault within 24 hours to result in child casualties.

A US spokesman said the bodies of the six were found under a collapsed wall after an air raid late Friday in Paktia province.

The deaths were the latest in a series of so-called “friendly fire” casualties to blight the US-led campaign in Afghanistan, including an attack on a wedding party in July 2002 that left 48 dead.

Lt-Col Bryan Hilferty said aircraft and ground troops were hunting a Taliban militant identified as Mullah Jilani when they attacked a compound, 20km east of Paktia’s capital Gardez.

“After we went there we discovered the bodies of two adults and six children under a collapsed wall,” he told reporters in Kabul.

“We don’t know what caused the collapse of wall because although we fired on the compound there were other explosions inside the compound,” he said. He did not identify the two adults but said that Mr Jilani was not found.

Lt-Col Hilferty said troops had come under attack during the assault, prompting US forces to raid the compound from the air and ground. Nine suspected militants were captured and a large cache of weapons were recovered.

The colonel said he could not rule out the possibility of further civilian casualties.

“I cannot guarantee that we will not injure any more civilians, I wish I could. The loss of any innocent life is tragic.”

The colonel said the assault was not part of Operation Avalanche, the biggest US offensive in Afghanistan since the 2001 fall of the Taliban, which was launched last week against extremists in east and south Afghanistan.

President Karzai has demanded an explanation for the child deaths at Ghazni and sent investigators to the scene.

“It was a sad scene. We are trying to find out ways in the best possible manner to prevent incidents like that,” he said on Wednesday.—AFP