- KABUL (Reuters) - U.S. bomb
attacks destroyed a village near the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar and
killed 300 people, the heaviest civilian casualties since the air strikes
began 36 days ago, a Taliban official said on Sunday.
-
- Abdul Hanan Himat said Shah Agha village in the Khakrez
district of Kandahar province was flattened by bombs last week.
-
- "Bodies of children, women and elderly men are still
being dug out from under the rubble," Himat told a news conference.
-
- He invited journalists to visit the site of the "carnage",
and accused the international media of ignoring the civilian casualties
of the U.S. attacks.
-
- "When we put a Chadari (head-to-toe veil) on a woman,
the media makes a big noise about it and say that human rights have been
abused," he said.
-
- "But when 300 innocent people in one village are
martyred, they keep calm about it and the Americans say they are only hitting
military areas," Himat said.
-
- Himat said around 30 other civilians had been killed
in the north of Kabul, and in central Ghazni and southern Kandahar provinces
overnight.
-
- The Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) also reported
on Friday that 300 people were feared killed by U.S. bombing in Khakrez
district.
-
- No immediate comment was available from the Pentagon.
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