US aircraft have dropped leaflets in the eastern Afghan town of Khost telling people to turn in al-Qaeda members or face bombing, the Afghan Islamic Press reported today.
The leaflets say that if they fail to give information on al-Qaeda they will have no reason to complain about the bombing, the Pakistan-based news agency reported.
The planes had also been dropping posters of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and his top associate, Ayman al-Zawahri. Washington has offered a $25 million reward for bin Laden, whom it accuses of materminding the September 11th terror attacks in the United States.
The US has twice been accused in recent days of bombing civilians.
Tribal chiefs say 65 people were killed when a road convoy was attacked in Paktia on December 20. They say there were no al-Qaeda members in the convoy as Washington claims.
In neighbouring Paktika province residents said 40 civilians were killed today when US planes pounded the village of Naka.
Washington said it believed most of the victims at Naka were leaders of the former Taliban regime which had sheltered bin Laden.
AFP