US 'not to blame' for Afghan raid

Graves of the nine children killed in the US bombing

The US military has absolved its forces of blame for an air raid that killed nine Afghan children last December.

"The investigating officer said we used appropriate rules of engagement and did follow the law of conflict," US military spokesman Bryan Hilferty said.

He declined to give details of the report into the Ghazni province attack.

The air raid, and another deadly attack the previous day, drew criticism from human rights groups, Afghanistan's government and the United Nations.

You can follow all of the laws of land warfare and still, unfortunately, have tragic incidents US military spokesman Bryan Hilferty Fact file: Thunderbolt

The UN had wanted the US military report to be made public.

But Lieutenant-Colonel Hilferty said the inquiry's findings would remain "top secret" - despite the UN calls.

"However, we did slightly change our rules of engagement after that investigation," he said, without further elaboration.

Raid went wrong

The US military used A-10 "tankbuster" planes in the attack on the remote southern village of Hutala on 6 December last year.

BOMBING ERRORS* Dec 2001: 65 killed in bombing of convoy of tribal elders April 2002: Four Canadian soldiers killed July 2002: 48 killed when bomb hits wedding party April 2003: 11 killed by bomb in village of Shkin Dec 2003: Nine children killed by bombing in Ghazni Province; six children killed in raid in Paktia province *Mistakes accepted by US Shock after Ghazni raid

Nine children, aged between nine and 12, and a young man were killed.

The US military said the raid was aimed at a suspected Afghan militant.

Local Afghans told the BBC the intended target had left the village 10 days earlier.

The UN called the incident "profoundly distressing".

Human rights campaigners wondered why machine-guns firing explosive rounds had been used to target an individual.

A string of attacks by US-led forces have resulted in the deaths of dozens of Afghan civilians since the start of the campaign against the Taleban and al-Qaeda in October 2001.

Although in many areas Afghans welcome the presence of American troops and other foreigners, there is hostility in some southern and eastern parts, correspondents say.