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British Paper Says Second U.S. Bombing Error Kills 100 Civilians
JALALABAD, Dec. 3 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The U.S. hunt for reputed terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden appeared to have gone tragically wrong for the second time in two days Sunday when U.S. bombers killed scores of civilians in eastern Afghanistan, as well as Afghan fighters supporting the battle against al-Qaeda.
The British daily newspaper, The Independent, Monday quoted a senior Taliban commander as saying U.S. airstrikes had killed more than 100 civilians around Agam, 25 miles south of Jalalabad, on top of at least 70 killed in air raids Saturday night.
Agence France-Presse (AFP) confirmed reports by the Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) that scores of civilians were killed by U.S. bombs around the Tora Bora cave complex in eastern Afghanistan.
AIP quoted Hazrat Ali, police chief of eastern Nangarhar province, as saying that U.S. warplanes pounded the area south of the city of Jalalabad Sunday night and Monday, said AFP.
At least eight of the latest victims were guards and government officials of the Eastern
Shura, the council of anti-Taliban leaders who now control eastern Afghanistan.
Haji Zaman Gamsharik, defense chief for the Eastern Shura, inspected the mutilated bodies of seven of his men, one of them a teenager, who died when U.S. bombs struck a district government office in Agam where they were sleeping.
"These are district officials and guards,'' he said in the mortuary of Jalalabad's Public Health Hospital. "And this is not just one, two or three people there are more than a hundred."
The U.S. military acknowledged late Sunday that it was looking into the reports of civilian areas having been hit.
Local Afghan military commanders were already reeling from attacks Friday night and early Saturday when three villages were bombed, killing at least 70, and perhaps as many as 300 civilians in territory controlled by allies of the U.S.-led anti-terrorism coalition.
The tragedy occurred when U.S. warplanes pounded the Taliban's southern stronghold of Kandahar. Washington also said it was stepping up the hunt for bin Laden in southeast Afghanistan.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said Sunday he did not "know exactly" where bin Laden was, "but we think he is still in Afghanistan and there is reason to believe that he is in the southern and eastern part of the country."
U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said he would not rule out ordering gas to be pumped into the Tora Bora caves, 28 miles south of Jalalabad, where bin Laden is allegedly hiding.
Describing the pro-Taliban forces in Kandahar as "the most determined and the toughest fighters," he warned the eventual battle for the city could be bloody. "If they don't surrender, they're going to be killed," he said.
As heavy fighting was reported around Kandahar, the Americans said Taliban forces were "caught in a snake-like squeeze."
Tribal sources said about 3,000 fighters loyal to the city's former governor, Gul Agha, had fought their way to within a mile of the airport, where the "Arab" fighters were holding firm. Meanwhile, about 4,000 fighters under Hamid Karzai advanced to a position 22 miles north of Kandahar, according to Karzai's brother, Ahmed, in Pakistan.
Gul Agha was said to have been wounded by Arab supporters loyal to bin Laden, but a spokesman denied that.
The Independent reported that the weekend attacks suggest the U.S. may be relying on faulty intelligence, or deliberately sacrificing civilians in order to kill al-Qaeda members living among them.
A Pentagon spokesman last weekend insisted the village bombings "just did not happen", but on Sunday, the coalition press office in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, said it was "investigating" the attack on the government office.
Noor Mohammed, 10, who was injured Saturday morning, lost his right arm, left hand and was blinded in both eyes.
In another bed, Sher Pacha, 25, described Sunday's attack on the Agam District Center. "We were sent by Haji Zaman a few days ago," he said, "and there were about 40 of us sleeping in one of the rooms of the district center."
"I heard the bombs and then I didn't know what was happening," Pacha added. "I was lucky because my head was positioned so the ceiling did not fall on top of it. The guards outside yelled for help and people came and four of us were rescued. Then the planes came again and a second lot of bombs were dropped while they were helping people. Many more died then."
The road to the White Mountains, which passes through Agam, is still considered too dangerous for foreigners to travel and it was impossible Sunday to visit the various bombsites,
The Independent's correspondent said.
But all the witnesses agreed that there were no Taliban or Arab fighters in the town, which has been under control by anti-Taliban forces for two weeks.
"It used to be a center of the Arabs, but they left that place on the first night of the bombing campaign [October 7]," said Commander Zaman, who is in contact with the U.S. military.
The U.S. military has promised winter uniforms and food supplies for the campaign against the Arab base in the Tora Bora cave complex.
"There are no Taliban and no Arabs there they are all hiding in the mountains," he said. "This is a mistake."
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