U.N. Calls for Inquiry Into Afghan Attack
KABUL, Afghanistan — The top United Nations official in Afghanistan called Sunday for a swift investigation into a U.S. airstrike that left nine Afghan children dead, saying that such attacks would increase Afghans' feeling of insecurity and fear.
In a statement, the U.S. military said Sunday that it regretted the deaths and was conducting its own probe into the bombing Saturday that targeted what a U.S. Army spokesman called a known terrorist.
Ground forces who checked the scene of the airstrike later discovered the bodies of nine children near the dead terror suspect, the military said. But Afghans contended that the Taliban militant whom U.S. forces wanted to kill had escaped.
"This incident, which follows similar incidents, adds to the sense of insecurity and fear in the country," Lakhdar Brahimi, the United Nations special representative to Afghanistan, said in a statement.
He urged the military to make public the results of its investigation, saying: "The protection of civilians is an obligation that must be observed by all."
Brahimi said he was "profoundly distressed" by the incident.
The children were playing in the walled compound of a home early Saturday morning when an American A-10 Warthog aircraft bombed the village of Hutala, in the province of Ghazni, 80 miles southwest of the Afghan capital.
Children's hats and shoes littered a bloody field cratered by gunfire Sunday, Associated Press reported from Hutala.
"They were just playing ball, and then the shots came down," said Hamidullah, a distraught villager who said his 8-year-old son, Habibullah, was among those killed, AP reported. Like many Afghans, the family members use only one name.
U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said the intended target, a former local Taliban commander named Mullah Wazir, was killed in the attack, a claim Afghan officials and residents disputed.
A U.S. military spokesman at Bagram air base, north of Kabul, said Wazir's body had been found near the site of the attack. He is believed to be responsible for the recent killings of two foreign workers building the Kandahar-to-Kabul highway.
However, a spokesman for the governor of Ghazni said the airstrike had missed Wazir.
"The Americans wanted to bomb Mullah Wazir but they bombed a different house," Jawaid Khan said.
"The people there are very afraid. They have no idea why the Americans bombed their village."
