Pentagon admits US
jets bombed old people's home in Afghan city
By Rupert Cornwell in Washington
24
October 2001
The Pentagon has acknowledged that American jets had probably
bombed an old people's home on the outskirts of the city of Herat, in the most
serious instance so far in the Afghanistan campaign of
the "collateral damage" that caused such controversy in the Gulf and Kosovo.
The exact circumstances of the "collateral damage"
– military-speak for the killing of civilians – are still unclear.
The UN mission in Pakistan said it had
been informed by its representatives in Herat that a
military hospital in a military compound to the east of the city had been hit,
but could not confirm the figure of 100 dead advanced by the Taliban. A Pentagon spokeswoman said a 1,000lb bomb dropped
by an F-18 warplane had missed its intended target, a vehicle storage depot,
300 feet (90 metres) from what she described as a
"seniors citizens centre". The accident, which damaged part of the
latter, was due to weapons guidance system malfunction. "We regret any
loss of civilian life," she added.
The Taliban also claimed a mosque
in Herat had been
struck, adding an unspecified number of casualties to the 1,000 people who the Taliban say have been
killed by the American-led air strikes.
Geoff Hoon, the Secretary of State
for Defence, said that all nine training camps known to be used by Osama bin Laden's al-Qa'ida network had been destroyed in the Allied air strikes
on Afghanistan.
But Mr Hoon did not reveal details
of the deployment of British ground forces at a press conference at the
Ministry of Defence yesterday, despite widespread expectations that he would do
so.
In Washington, the White
House said there was a suspicion that the US anthrax
outbreak was linked to the 11 September attacks. Authorities confirmed that two
postal workers had died from anthrax.
An Egyptian dissident living in Britain was arrested
by anti-terrorist police over allegations that he helped two hit men murder the
main Afghan opposition leader in September.
