Bush regret over Afghan deaths

US forces are hunting al-Qaeda and Taleban remnants

US President George W Bush has offered his condolences to the families of Afghan civilians killed in an American air attack.

The president is concerned about reports from Afghanistan that innocent lives were lost

White House spokesman

Forty-four people died earlier this week when a wedding party was attacked in the central province of Uruzgan, the Afghan Government says.

The incident occurred during an operation by US-led coalition forces against fighters of the former Taleban authorities and Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.

US and Afghan officials are on their way to the village - Dehrawad, 400 kilometres (250 miles) south-west of Kabul - to investigate exactly what happened.

Many of those injured were children

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said: "The president is concerned about reports from Afghanistan that innocent lives were lost.

"We do not know what happened and we are working very hard to find out.

"On behalf of the American people, the president extends his deep condolences for the loss of innocent life no matter what the cause is determined to be."

Protest

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has protested to the US military authorities, and urged them to be more careful in their targeting.

At a meeting with US officials, Mr Karzai demanded that coalition forces "take all necessary measures to ensure that military activities to capture terrorist groups do not harm Afghan civilians".

Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah told reporters: "This situation has to come to an end. Mistakes can take place, human errors are possible, but our people should be assured that every measure was taken to avoid such incidents.

"There is no explanation that in a country where people have suffered so much under al-Qaeda and the Taleban, they continue to suffer as the result of the campaign against al-Qaeda."

But he said the coalition operation against remaining al-Qaeda and Taleban forces in the country had to continue.

US denial

The US military has denied reports that it attacked the wedding party after mistaking celebratory gunfire for an anti-aircraft fire.

A US gunship is thought to have fired on villagers

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has urged caution until results from that investigations are known.

"It's really a mistake for us to make judgments about what took place when we know we don't know," he said.

The Pentagon said other villages had also been hit during a two-day campaign against fighters al-Qaeda and Taleban fighters.

A spokesman said a stray bomb from a B-52 aircraft - which had initially been blamed for the wedding deaths - had in fact landed in an unpopulated area.

The BBC's Kate Clark in Kabul says that last year Afghans were willing to take sacrifices if it meant the defeat of the Taleban.

But now, she adds, the coalition is just mopping up the scattered remains of the old regime and civilian losses are leaving Afghans perplexed and angry.