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US air attack on suspect kills nine children in Afghanistan
Kabul, Dec 07: Nine children have been killed in a US air attack on a suspected `terrorist` in southeast Afghanistan which also left the man the coalition forces were hunting dead, the US military said today.
Kabul, Dec 07: Nine children have been killed in a US air attack on a suspected "terrorist" in southeast Afghanistan which also left the man the coalition forces were hunting dead, the US military said today.
Yesterday's US air raid came as at least 15 people were injured by a bomb blast in a crowded shopping area in Kandahar and three Indian road workers were kidnapped while on the Kabul-Kandahar Highway cutting through the south of the country.
The incidents come as the country prepares for next week's Loya Jirga (grand assembly) to approve a new Constitution which will pave the way for Afghanistan's first democratic elections in June 2004.
Taliban militants have threatened attacks to disrupt the Loya Jirga.
The US military said coalition aircraft began the air raid at about 10:30 am (1130 IST) yesterday south of the town of Ghazni, 130 kilometres southwest of the capital.
"Following the attack, coalition ground forces searching the area found the bodies of both the intended target and those of nine children nearby," the US military said in a statement from the coalition's Bagram air base headquarters north of Kabul.
The suspect was believed to be responsible for recently killing two contractors working on the Kabul-Kandahar-Herat Ring Road, the military said.
Bureau Report
Yesterday's US air raid came as at least 15 people were injured by a bomb blast in a crowded shopping area in Kandahar and three Indian road workers were kidnapped while on the Kabul-Kandahar Highway cutting through the south of the country.
The incidents come as the country prepares for next week's Loya Jirga (grand assembly) to approve a new Constitution which will pave the way for Afghanistan's first democratic elections in June 2004.
Taliban militants have threatened attacks to disrupt the Loya Jirga.
The US military said coalition aircraft began the air raid at about 10:30 am (1130 IST) yesterday south of the town of Ghazni, 130 kilometres southwest of the capital.
"Following the attack, coalition ground forces searching the area found the bodies of both the intended target and those of nine children nearby," the US military said in a statement from the coalition's Bagram air base headquarters north of Kabul.
The suspect was believed to be responsible for recently killing two contractors working on the Kabul-Kandahar-Herat Ring Road, the military said.
Bureau Report