US delayed over wedding bomb

US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld has ordered an investigation into why it took the American military 12 hours to notify the Afghan government that some of its civilians had been killed when US bombs were dropped on a village.

The delay meant it was too late to mobilise Afghan forces to help transport the wounded and injured to hospital - adding a public-relations disaster to a human tragedy.

The story on the ground from Afghans is that US aircraft attacked a wedding party in the village of Kakarak yesterday, resulting in many casualties, with dozens killed, mostly women and children. They say some guests fired guns into the air in celebration, an Afghan tradition, and US aircraft must have mistaken them for anti-aircraft fire. Afghan president Hamid Karzai told the same story.

But the Pentagon is telling an entirely different tale. Officials there say they do not know how many casualties occurred, or how they happened. In this version, US special forces on the ground and in the air were carrying out a large reconnaissance operation in Uruzgan province, in an area where Taliban leader Muammar Omar is thought to be hiding.

Troops called in air support when they came under fire. A B52 dropped seven precision-guided bombs, called JDAMs, on caves and bunkers, one of which went astray. Also, an AC130 gunship taking part in the mission received "deliberate and sustained" anti-aircraft fire from the ground. The AC130 returned the fire.

Afghans estimate that more than 100 civilians were killed or injured in the incident. The Pentagon count is only four casualties. US officials acknowledge that at least some of those killed or injured may have been civilians.

A Pentagon official said it was unclear if the bomb that went astray caused the casualties or whether they were the result of anti-aircraft fire falling back down on the victims.

Navy commander Jeff Davis said anti-aircraft fire was directed at a patrol of coalition warplanes and they responded with close air support north of Kandahar.

The list of such "incidents" is an embarrassment to the Pentagon.

Last November, a US bomb intended for al Qaeda fighters went astray in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan, killing 20. A month later, US planes bombed a convoy of tribal elders, killing as many as 65.

Last winter, US warplanes also bombed friendly Afghan and US forces during an al Qaeda prison rebellion. In April, a US pilot dropped a bomb on Canadian soldiers he mistook for Taliban. Four soldiers were killed.

In London, Labour backbenchers today called for a halt to the bombing campaign in Afghanistan. Alan Simpson, MP for Nottingham South, said: "This will be described as unfortunate collateral damage, whereas it is simply abjectly poor military planning."

Halifax MP Alice Mahon, said: "There needs to be an international inquiry and an end to this way of war."