The Pentagon said last night it had "no doubt" that enemy forces and not allied tribal leaders were bombed earlier yesterday in a US air strike on a convoy in Afghanistan.
An Afghan news agency reported that 65 people were killed when US aircraft bombed a line of 20 vehicles carrying Afghan elders, tribal chiefs and commanders to the inauguration of the new government in Kabul.
A military mistake on this scale by the US, if confirmed, could endanger the international efforts to establish a new stability in Afghanistan following the defeat of the Taliban.
The Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press said the US warplanes attacked the vehicles 25 km south of Gardez, capital of Paktia province. "Several Afghan elders and commanders were among the victims of the killings", said Mr Sayed Yaqeen, an official of the Paktia tribal council.
According to the AIP report, the victims included a militia commander, Mr Mohammadi Ibrahim, a brother of the Afghan commander, Mr Maulvi Haqqani.
The US Defence Secretary, Mr Donald Rumsfeld, told a Pentagon briefing: "It was a large convoy, and there were a lot of people killed and a lot of vehicles damaged or destroyed."
Gen Peter Pace, vice-chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, told a briefing: "We had some intelligence indicators that were cross-referenced and determined by central command that, in fact, what we had was a convoy of vehicles, about 10 to12, that contained leadership."
The convoy was pummelled by AC-130 gunships and fighter aircraft, Gen Pace said. The Pentagon spokeswoman, Ms Victoria Clarke, said the convoy hit by the warplanes was a military target. She was unaware of reports that the bombing could have been a mistake.
"I don't know about this report, but we did attack a convoy and it definitely was a military target", she said.
Local residents in the area of the attack were quoted earlier as saying that supporters of the incoming leader, Hamid Karzai, were attacked after they left a tribal meeting. They said informers apparently told US contacts that the convoy was pro-Taliban.
"There is no doubt that they hit what they wanted to hit and that it was the bad guys", a Pentagon spokesman said last night.