Middle East - AP

Kids Dead After U.S. Attack in Afghanistan
4 minutes ago

KABUL, Afghanistan - Nine children were found dead after an American air raid in southern Afghanistan (news - web sites) on Saturday, the U.S. military said.

An American A-10 aircraft struck a site south of Ghazni where a "known terrorist" was believed to be hiding at about 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Army Maj. Christopher E. West told The Associated Press.

"Following the attack, ground coalition forces searching the area found the bodies of both the intended target and those of nine children nearby," he said.

The U.S. military was sending a team of investigators to the site to determine if U.S. forces were at fault, West said.

Coalition forces "will make every effort to assist the families of these innocent casualties and determine the cause of the civilian deaths," he said from the U.S. headquarters in Bagram, Afghanistan.

"We regret the loss of any innocent life and we follow stringent rules of engagement to specifically avoid this type of incident while continuing to target terrorists who threaten the future of Afghanistan," West said.

U.S. forces were targeting a suspected militant believed responsible for the killing of two foreign contractors who were working on a road in Afghanistan, he said.

West said U.S. troops collected "extensive intelligence over an extended period of time" and located the suspect at an "isolated, rural site."

He said there were other houses nearby, but that the aircraft did not strike them.

"At the time we initiated the attack, we did not know there were children nearby," he said. "Until we get the investigation results, we can't say what exactly happened."