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Oct. 17 - A day after powerful U.S. special forces aircraft were introduced in the air campaign over Afghanistan, aerial raids resumed Wednesday morning, dropping bombs that caused powerful explosions in the capital, Kabul. The bombardment came as the Defense Department was investigating reports that a U.S. bomb had hit a Red Cross relief compound Tuesday near Kabul, injuring one person.
In addition to the injury of a security guard, two warehouses containing wheat, medicine and other supplies were set afire when a bomb crashed into the Red Cross compound at Khair Khana near Kabul. Afghan workers were trying to salvage blankets, tents and medicine.
The buildings were marked with Red Cross emblems, said Mario Musa, a spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Islamabad, Pakistan.
Witnesses said they had seen several military trucks belonging to Afghanistan’s militant Taliban ruling militia near the same area. The compound is near four Taliban military bases, a government transport depot and a fuel depot.
Marine Lt. Gen. Gregory Newbold, director of operations for the U.S. Joint Staff, said at a Pentagon briefing Tuesday afternoon that he could not confirm that it was a U.S. bomb that caused the damage. At the White House, press secretary Ari Fleischer raised the possibility that anti-aircraft fire from the ground could have been responsible.
President Bush did not mention the incident during a visit Tuesday afternoon to Red Cross headquarters in Washington, where he encouraged Americans to take part in community service efforts during the military strikes.
The incident did not appear to be deterring relief organizations. The U.N. World Food Program announced Tuesday that it was trying to restore a vital supply route, and Russia’s first aid shipment arrived in the region.
Petar Bojilov, logistics coordinator for the World Food Program in Uzbekistan, was meeting with officials in Termez, an Uzbek border town, to regain access to a U.N. office. Termez was a main point for delivery of aid to northern Afghanistan before Uzbekistan closed the border in 1997.
In addition to the injury of a security guard, two warehouses containing wheat, medicine and other supplies were set afire when a bomb crashed into the Red Cross compound at Khair Khana near Kabul. Afghan workers were trying to salvage blankets, tents and medicine.
The buildings were marked with Red Cross emblems, said Mario Musa, a spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Islamabad, Pakistan.
Witnesses said they had seen several military trucks belonging to Afghanistan’s militant Taliban ruling militia near the same area. The compound is near four Taliban military bases, a government transport depot and a fuel depot.
Marine Lt. Gen. Gregory Newbold, director of operations for the U.S. Joint Staff, said at a Pentagon briefing Tuesday afternoon that he could not confirm that it was a U.S. bomb that caused the damage. At the White House, press secretary Ari Fleischer raised the possibility that anti-aircraft fire from the ground could have been responsible.
President Bush did not mention the incident during a visit Tuesday afternoon to Red Cross headquarters in Washington, where he encouraged Americans to take part in community service efforts during the military strikes.
The incident did not appear to be deterring relief organizations. The U.N. World Food Program announced Tuesday that it was trying to restore a vital supply route, and Russia’s first aid shipment arrived in the region.
Petar Bojilov, logistics coordinator for the World Food Program in Uzbekistan, was meeting with officials in Termez, an Uzbek border town, to regain access to a U.N. office. Termez was a main point for delivery of aid to northern Afghanistan before Uzbekistan closed the border in 1997.
