Saying Civilians Died in Afghan Raid, U.S. Widens Inquiry
Lt. Gen. Dan K. McNeill of the United States, the commander of allied forces in Afghanistan, and Foreign Minister Abdullah of Afghanistan said that an investigation would help prevent civilian casualties in the future, after a preliminary investigation into the attack failed to come to any firm conclusions.

"We have determined there were civilian casualties," General McNeill said after a joint team of American and Afghan investigators returned from the area.

"We will initiate all formal investigations to determine what caused these civilian casualties and what we can do or implement to make sure they do not recur."

General McNeill continued to insist that American planes had come under antiaircraft fire before they attacked in an area where witnesses reported that villagers at a wedding celebration had been killed or wounded.

General McNeill said Afghans at the scene reported that 48 people were killed and 117 were wounded in the raid on several villages, including Kakrak, in the rugged province of Oruzgan in the early hours of July 1.

"It is not a policy of this coalition to target innocents, nor would it ever be to target innocents," he said.

But General McNeill said the joint investigating team had not been able to see the bodies, which had already been buried, or to confirm the number of deaths for themselves.

An American member of the team said they had seen only five graves and 11 injured people during their visit. "We are just going with the Afghan account," he said. "We asked and we asked but they didn't show us" any more graves. Wire service photographs from the scene appear to show more fresh graves, however.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/07/international/asia/07REPO.html