The United Nations yesterday said a US air strike that killed dozens of Afghans celebrating a wedding showed the need to make protection of civilian lives a top concern of the US war on terrorism.
The world body had no immediate comment, however, on a London newspaper's report on a preliminary UN finding that the US may have understated the death toll and covered up evidence related to the attack, which enraged Afghans who saw it as an unprovoked strike on defenceless civilians.
A statement from the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan confirmed that a fact-finding mission had visited the site of the July 1st bombing and prepared a preliminary report setting out a far higher casualty estimate than the Pentagon's.
The statement, the first official comment on the report by the UN, added, however, that the preliminary report contained casualty estimates "that were not fully documented and judgments that were not sufficiently substantiated".
It said a more comprehensive report now being finalised would "provide a more detailed and accurate picture of the circumstances and consequences of the bombing".
The bombing, in the rugged region of Uruzgan in central Afghanistan, was a public relations disaster for the US, which has tried to build broad Afghan support for its self-styled "war on terror". The US military yesterday denied covering up evidence related to the attack.
According to the Times of London, a preliminary UN report into the incident, based on a two-day UN fact-finding trip in early July, raised questions about the accuracy of US accounts and pegged the death toll at 80 and the number of injured at up to 200.
Afghanistan since has said that 48 civilians were killed and 117 wounded, while the Pentagon has said its investigators found only five graves at the site. The UN report also was unable to corroborate US statements that a US plane involved in the raid had come under fire from the ground, stating that it found no destroyed weaponry or ammunition at the scene of the attack. - (Reuters)
Osama bin Laden's son Saad has become a rising star in his father's terrorist network, gaining so much new authority that US counter-terrorism officials now consider him among their top two dozen targets in al-Qaeda.
Saad bin Laden has provided financial and other logistical support for several al-Qaeda operations, said one official. Saad, a Saudi like his father, is thought to be in his early 30s. - (AP)