Five US soldiers critical

Five American soldiers are on the critical list after they were caught in the blast of a satellite-guided bomb which went astray in a B52 attack on Kandahar.

Three soldiers, all believed to be from the Delta Force special forces commando, were killed by the JDAM weapon.

The injured are being treated at the US marines' forward base at Fort Rhino at Dolangi south of Kandahar and at a hospital in Oman in the Gulf. US reporters at Rhino have complained that they were "locked up" and prevented from seeing the injured as they were brought in.

Among the Afghans injured was Hamid Karzai, who had just been designated prime minister of the new interim government agreed at the UN-brokered peace conference in Bonn. He was only slightly injured, and quickly resumed commanding the battle for Kandahar.

The "friendly fire" incident - now revealed to be much worse than first thought - was the second involving the 2,000lb JDAM satellite bomb in 10 days. At least three have been killed, and around 30 injured, five of them critically.

The bomb was dropped about 100m from where the Delta Force party with Karzai were trying to direct fire onto Taliban lines outside Kandahar. A JDAM went astray during the battle inside the Qala i Janghi fort near Mazar, where Taliban prisoners battled with Northern Alliance and US and British special forces for three days last week. Four Northern Alliance were killed and five US soldiers were injured in that blast.

"In every conflict there are unexpected, unintended deaths, and it is a shame, but it happens," US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld said today. Pentagon spokesman Rear-Admiral John Stufflebeem added: "This is one of the potentially most hazardous types of mission that we use as a military tactic. We have not perfected a technology that is perfect in its execution."

The three dead have been named as Master Sergeant Jefferson Donald Davis, 39, Sergeant 1st Class Daniel Petithory, 32, and Staff Sergeant Brian Cody Prosser, 28. They are all described as serving with the 3rd Battalion Special Forces' Group based at Fort Campbell, Kentucky - which suggests they were part of the Delta Force.