UNITED NATIONS and KHOJA BAHAWUDDIN -- The United Nations has said that unexploded bomblets from cluster bombs have trapped villagers after a raid near the western Afghan city of Herat.
The cluster bombs were dropped around Herat on Monday during a raid in which UN officials say a military hospital and a mosque were hit.
Cluster bombs are controversial weapons consisting of a canister which breaks apart to release a large number of small bombs.
Dan Kelly, manager of a UN mine removal programme for Afghanistan, said the people of Shaker Qala outside Herat were now living in fear of stepping outside.
UN officials are calling on the United States to share basic information about the type of munitions used so they know how to deal with them.
Meanwhile, Afghanistan's opposition urged the United States and its allies Wednesday to work harder to prevent civilian casualties in its military campaign against the ruling Taliban.
Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, the opposition's foreign minister, said bombing raids against Taliban positions had inflicted more pain on a people who had already suffered under the rule of "terrorists."
"I think more attention has to be paid to avoid casualties in the aftermath (of bombing raids)," he told a news conference.
"A major concern is that of civilian casualties... which have to be avoided by any means. They have suffered for so long under the rule of terrorist groups... and now they are suffering in a different way."
Abdullah, on his way to meet commanders in the northeastern town of Khoja Bahawuddin, said the opposition Northern Alliance had received confirmed accounts of civilian casualties during the bombing raids.
He said many Afghans had been killed or wounded in the southern city of Kandahar and eastern city of Jalalabad in the strikes, which Washington and its allies launched earlier this month.
The United States has confirmed that some bombs have gone astray.
The United Nations said Tuesday a military hospital had been destroyed by bombing in the western city of Herat on Monday but it had no information on casualties. A U.S. defense official said in Washington U.S. forces might have accidentally hit a home for the elderly.
Abdullah also said the recent bombing of a Northern Alliance position was an unfortunate mistake and should be avoided in future.