‘Eight civilians killed in Kabul attacks'

The US-led bombardment hit two homes in the north of the Afghanistan capital of Kabul today, killing at least eight civilians, including four children, neighbours said.

An Associated Press reporter at the scene in the Khair Khana residential district saw bodies of five of the dead - three women and two small children.

Corpses of the others, including another two older boys and a man, had been taken away, neighbours said. Residents jostled to see the destruction.

‘‘This pilot was like he was blind. There are no military bases here - only innocent people,’’ said one resident, Haziz Ullah.

As the bulldozers searched for more bodies, another jet screamed in high overhead and the residents scrambled for cover - with even ambulances on the scene roaring away.

However, no more bombs were dropped by that aircraft.

The daytime strikes had hit two, concrete houses in the area.

The neighbourhood holds no known Taliban military sites, although a Taliban army garrison and other installations are housed some miles away.

The US has expressed regrets for any civilian deaths in its now two-week-old military campaign, saying it is targeting terror suspect Osama bin Laden and his Taliban allies.