Afghanistan's new leader Hamid Karzai on Saturday said he doubted that tribal chiefs were in a convoy of vehicles bombed by US jets but said he would make checks. ''Somebody came to see me yesterday. I was supposed to meet him today to hear a first hand account of what happened,'' he told his first news conference since taking office.
''And I will definitely check it out with our American friends,'' he said. ''I dont think it's true,'' he said referring to reports that 65 tribal elders and Mujahideen en route from eastern Afghanistan to attend his inauguration in Kabul had been killed in the strikes.
''The first information I got was there was no such bombing. I will check it out,'' he said.
''If they were Al Qaeda then they were not tribal chiefs.''
Bureau Report