Washington, December 22
As US warplanes pounded a convoy in Afghanistan, reportedly killing 65 persons and destroying vehicles, more US troops joined the hunt for militant leader Osama bin Laden and his followers, military officials said here.Pentagon spokesman Lieut-Col David Lapan, however, yesterday denied a report that the US strike on Thursday had hit a convoy of Afghan elders, tribal chiefs and commanders going to attend the swearing-in ceremony of
Afghani-stan’s new government in Kabul.
“There is no doubt; they hit the bad guys,” the Pentagon spokesman said. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said many had died in the strike on the convoy. “It was a long convoy, and there were a lot of people killed and a lot of vehicles damaged or destroyed,” he said.
The Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) news agency reported that 65 persons were killed in the attack and many others were injured.
“We had some intelligence indicators that were cross-referenced and determined by the Central Command that in fact what we had was a convoy of 10 to 12 vehicles that contained leadership,” said General Peter Pace, vice-chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff.
A command-and-control compound from which the convoy had departed was also hit, General Pace said.
The AIP report said warplanes attacked the vehicles on a road at Sato Kandaw, 25 km south of Gardez, the capital of Paktia province.
“Several Afghan elders, tribal chiefs and commanders were among the victims of the killings,” AIP quoted Sayed Yaqeen, an official of the Paktia tribal council, as saying.
Meanwhile, Mr Rumsfeld said more US forces had been sent to eastern Afghanistan to bolster military operations in the Tora Bora region.
He confirmed that US forces were helping Afghan allies in the search of caves in the region for Bin Laden or remnants of Al-Qaida forces loyal to him.
“Whatever is needed will be sent, and it won’t be just USA but coalition forces,” Mr Rumsfeld said.
AFP
