US, Afghan Presidents Discuss US Bombing on Phone

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Sunday, July 07, 2002

US, Afghan Presidents Discuss US Bombing on Phone

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US President George W. Bush called Friday to President of Afghan Transitional Government Hamid Karzaito discuss Monday's US bombings on several villages in the centralAfghan province of Uruzgan, which killed 48 people and injured some 100 others.

Bush told Karzai that he felt sorry about the incident and the victims, according to the Afghanistan Liberty Radio Saturday.

During the conversation, the US president also expressed his condolences to families of the people who were killed and injured.

He assured to Karzai that such kind of incidents would never happen in the future.

Bush said he had given advice to the US military authorities toinvestigate the incident and to find out the reason.

The US and coalition forces, which were searching the mountainous region for the al-Qaeda members, the main suspect of the September 11 attacks in the United States, bombed three villages with a B-52 and an AC-130. One of the seven bombs went astray to hit a wedding party of 200 people.

The U.S. military authorities explained that they acted on the intelligence from local Afghans that some al-Qaeda fugitives were hiding in the region, and they were also fired upon before they returned fires.

The bombard lasted for 15 minutes, according to Foreign Minister of Afghan Transitional Government Abdullah Abdullah.

A joint US-Afghan fact-finding delegation arrived Tuesday in Uruzgan province and was making their investigation about the incident.

In a separate move, Karzai said that he would send a special commission to the region to find out those who gave the wrong intelligence to the U.S. military.

"Those who gave wrong intelligence should be punished. Such corrupt people have caused victims of our innocent people," Karzaiwas quoted by the radio. "It's the government's responsibility to find out them."

Meanwhile, the governor of Uruzgan province also asked the US authorities to submit the intelligence providers to the Afghan transitional government.

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