Gunship likely cause of Afghan wedding slaughter

It appears gunfire, rather than an errant bomb dropped by the US, was responsible for scores of deaths reported in a central Afghanistan, defense officials said Tuesday.

And the attacks involved American raids in several locations, rather than the one previously reported, a senior defence official said .

Residents and officials said dozens of civilians, including women and children, were killed in an attack on the village of Kakarak. Estimates of those killed ranged from about 40 to more than 100.

But in calling for measures to guard against such accidents, Afghan Foreign Minister Abndullah Abdullah said today that four village were attacked.

Asked about that report, a senior defence official in Washington said US forces were conducting a reconnaissance operation that targeted several suspected al-Qaida or Taliban locations.

US military officials had said that any of three things could have caused the civilian casualties. One was a malfunctioning bomb from an Air Force B-52 that was striking cave and bunker complexes in the vicinity.

But two defense officials said today that it had been learned an American soldier on the ground saw the bomb fall in a remote, uninhabited area.

Another possibility that remains is that the civilians were hit by fire from a US AC-130 Spectre gunship that was supporting the reconnaissance operation, striking at what Americans believed was anti-aircraft sites

The gunship lays down a field of fire from Gatling guns, cannons and 105 mm howitzers.

The other possibility is that enemy anti-aircraft artillery meant for the American plane fell back to the ground.