US Stoutly Denies It Bombed Friendly Convoy

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All wogs look alike...

   "There is no doubt in their (US military's Central Command) mind
   that they hit what they wanted to hit and that it was the bad
   guys."--Pentagon spokesman


BBC Online - 21 December, 2001, 22:22 GMT

US says warplanes hit Taleban convoy

The US says it is certain that a convoy of vehicles attacked by its
warplanes in eastern Afghanistan was carrying leaders of the Taleban,
and not tribal elders as some reports had suggested.

Major Brad Lowell, a spokesman for US Central Command, said officials
looked into the claims and were sure the targeted convoy was composed
of Taleban leaders.

"We've checked all means possible and confirmed this was a military
convoy," he said.

Major Lowell said the convoy heading for the capital, Kabul, for
Saturday's inauguration of the new interim administration, was far
north of the air attack.

Training camp area

The strikes destroyed a convoy of 10 to 12 vehicles near the town of
Khost southwest of the mountainous Tora Bora region, and the compound
from which they left, said Peter Pace, vice-chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff in Washington.

In 1998 the US tried to destroy the al-Qaeda camps there with
Tomahawk cruise missiles in an attempt to kill Osama Bin Laden, who
they blame for the twin bombings of its embassies in Kenya and
Tanzania.

The Pentagon says AC-130 gunships and fighter jets launched from US
aircraft carriers carried out the attack on Friday.

The Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press (AIP), which is generally
sympathetic to the Taleban, had earlier reported that 65 people were
killed in the attack.

The agency quoted Sayed Yaqeen, an official of the Paktia tribal
council, as saying several Afghan elders, tribal chiefs and
commanders were among the victims.

Cave-busting bomb

It is also being reported that more than 20 civilians were killed
when US aircraft bombed the village of Sarkando in the same province.

A number of others were reportedly wounded in the attack in which the
village was said to have been destroyed.

Mr Rumsfeld has said that significant numbers of coalition troops
will be sent into the Tora Bora cave complex as the search for Bin
Laden, the man suspected of masterminding the 11 September terror
attacks on the US, continues.

Anti-Taleban Afghan forces took the complex last week and have so far
taken the lead in neutralising pockets of resistance and hunting for
evidence.

Meanwhile, the US is sending a new bomb to Afghanistan that uses a
delayed, high-pressure explosion to suck the air out of caves and
tunnels.

Under Secretary of Defence Edward Aldridge said the laser-guided
"thermobaric" bomb, recently tested in Nevada, "is something we
clearly have a need for in Afghanistan and they're on their way over
there".

http://news.bbc.co.uk

 
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