Tuesday October 23 10:04 AM ET
Official: U.S. May Have Hit Afghan Home for Elderly
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon (news - web sites) has received information indicating that U.S. warplanes might have accidentally bombed a home for senior citizens near the Afghan city of Herat on Monday, a senior defense official said on Tuesday.
The U.S. official, who asked not to be identified, spoke with Reuters a day after Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld denied a charge from Afghanistan (news - web sites)'s ruling Taliban that bombs had struck a hospital in the city in western Afghanistan, killing more than 100 people.
``We are looking into it. We have no information on casualties,'' said the official, adding that a ``senior citizens residence'' might have been involved. If confirmed, this would be the latest of several incidents involving bombs that have gone astray and killed civilians in a 17-day U.S. and British air campaign in Afghanistan.
The defense official said that U.S. warplanes on Tuesday continued to bomb frontline Taliban military units around Herat, the Afghan capital of Kabul and the key northern crossroads city of Mazar-i-Sharif.