US military gunships and Navy jet fighters attacked and destroyed a convoy in Afghanistan believed to be carrying "leadership" of the Taliban or al Qaeda, Pentagon officials said today. As many as 65 people were killed.
But a report by the Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) said US warplanes bombed a convoy of Afghan tribal elders on their way to Kabul to attend the inauguration of the interim government.
Marine Corps Gen Peter Pace, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the air strikes hit a convoy of 10 to 12 vehicles near the town of Khost southwest of the mountainous Tora Bora region, where special operations forces are hunting for Osama bin Laden.
"The vehicles were destroyed, the people were killed and the compound from which they left was destroyed," he said at a Pentagon briefing, adding the attack occurred in the last 24 hours.
General Pace said the compound contained "leadership" but did not make clear if they were leaders of Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda guerrillas or the Taliban.
The AIP report said the air strikes were in the eastern province of Paktia. That is the same region where the Pentagon said it had hit the convoy.