ASSOCIATED PRESS in Kabul
US troops targeting a group of Taleban fighters mistakenly killed Afghans sent to negotiate the group's surrender, local villagers claimed. The Pentagon on Thursday said special forces had raided two Taleban compounds at Hazar Qadam, 100km north of Kandahar, killing about 15 people, capturing 27 and destroying a large number of weapons. One American soldier was wounded.
However, villagers in Uruzgan province, where the raid took place, yesterday claimed the victims were neither Taleban nor al-Qaeda fighters but Afghans sent by a pro-Government official to negotiate the surrender of weapons from Taleban forces.
The party of 18 negotiators, led by Haji Sana Gul, convinced the Taleban fighters to hand over the weapons, according to Bari Gul, his brother. Rather than leave the area at night, the party camped in a local Islamic school, with dozens of other people, Bari Gul said.
However, US troops swooped before dawn on Thursday and killed several people in the school, including Haji Sana Gul, his brother said. Two of the dead were found with their hands tied behind their backs, he said. Three more people were killed at a district building 2km away, Bari Gul said, without giving a total death toll.
He speculated that someone had misled the Americans, falsely claiming the party were al-Qaeda or Taleban forces. Afghans have in the past accused local leaders of misleading US troops so they would kill their rivals. At the US military base in Kandahar, an army spokesman said the reports were "not consistent with our intelligence".
The allegations were raised as interim Prime Minister Hamid Karzai left for Washington, where he will discuss the military operation in Afghanistan with President George W. Bush today
Mr Karzai will also go to New York to attend a meeting of the UN Security Council and visit the site of the destroyed World Trade Centre.
===== Kevin Dean Buffalo, NY ICQ: 8616001 http://www.yaysoft.com
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