KABUL, Oct 18: Concerns over civilian casualties from US attacks on Afghanistan mounted on Thursday, as President George Bush signalled the focus of the campaign would soon switch to ground forces.

Raids on Kabul left at least six people dead in the worst case of civilian deaths since air strikes against the Taliban began 12 days ago.

And as aid agencies warned of an imminent humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, the Taliban admitted that the lives of foreign aid workers would be at risk if they returned to the country.

A series of direct hits on residential areas in Kabul placed the ability of US forces to hit what is left of the Taliban’s military infrastructure without the risk of killing innocent civilians under the critical spotlight.

One man said he had lost five members of his family when bombs destroyed six houses in the southeastern Kalae Zaman Khan area, while residents said an eight-year-old girl died in the eastern suburb of Macroyan.

“I have lost my mother, my brother, my brother’s wife, my grandmother and my sister. I have lost all hope, they were my hope,” said Abdullah, 27, as he searched the rubble of his house in Kalae Zaman Khan, five kilometres east of the centre of Kabul.

Taliban officials have put the civilian death toll at around 400.

The Taliban said at least 70 people had been killed in raids since Wednesday morning, 47 of them in Kandahar.

Militia officials also reported an entire family had been wiped out in the bombing of a truck in which they were moving their possessions out of Jalalabad.

Bush’s hint of a strategic switch in the nature of the campaign came at a California airbase on his way to China for talks with other Pacific Rim leaders.

“The enemy’s air force and air defences are being demolished,” Bush said. “We’re paving the way for friendly troops on the ground to slowly but surely tighten the net to bring them to justice,” he said.—AFP