Anti-US protest in Kabul

Dozens of Afghan women clad in blue burqas protested yesterday against an American air attack on a remote Afghan village believed to have killed 40 people attending a wedding.

The American military continued to defend the deadly air attack, saying it had information senior Taliban leaders were sheltering in the village and that its planes had received anti-aircraft fire from several locations close to the houses.

But analysts said mounting anger about the civilian casualties could undermine the Western-backed Government of President Hamid Karzai, and complicate American efforts to track down Taliban and al Qaeda fugitives in the country.

The women who gathered outside United Nations headquarters in Kabul were careful to say they were not asking the Americans to leave Afghanistan, nor were they supporters of the Taliban - they were merely expressing sympathy and anger.

"We condemn terrorism," the organisers said in a pamphlet. "We are not against the Americans, but it doesn't mean they should drop bombs on residents, happy ceremonies and sanctuaries instead of military targets."

"The US should get through to its officers that this kind of incident could destroy relations and the trust between the two nations," the pamphlet said.

The US military played a leading role in the ouster of the fundamentalist Taliban last year, something that was welcomed by millions of Afghans. But as special forces comb the country for fugitive Taliban leaders or their al Qaeda allies, there have been some civilian casualties.

Experts say Karzai's government will have to deal with a lot of anti-American feeling as a result of the tragedy, especially from the proud Pashtuns of southern and eastern Afghanistan.

"It will force Karzai to take a stronger line with the US," said prominent Pakistani author and Afghan expert Ahmed Rashid. "It could put strains on the US-Karzai relationship - he will have to respond to public feeling."

Although Karzai has not condemned the attack in person, he has asked the Americans to inform Afghan authorities about future operations, something the US military may be reluctant to do.

But Rashid said the ability of the Taliban to exploit the anger should not be exaggerated, since they no longer appear to represent an organised political force in Afghanistan, even in their former Pashtun heartland.

People may be angry with Americans, he said, but that does not mean they support the Taliban. "If the Americans confuse this issue they will make things even worse," he said.

US military investigators travelled to the bombed village in the rugged province of Uruzgan on Wednesday, also interviewing the commander of the US special operations team that called in the airstrikes.

US Major Gary Tallman of the investigating team said American forces on the ground had reliable information from several sources that senior Taliban leaders were sheltering in the tiny village when the wedding party was attacked.

He said a U.S. special forces team had surveyed the area at least four times in the past two weeks, and each time planes had been fired on by anti-aircraft guns.

On Sunday night, U.S. troops were positioning to surround and search the village when they saw more anti-aircraft fire, Tallman told a pool reporter from U.S. forces magazine Stars and Stripes.

The special forces commander told Tallman that spotters on the ground with laser targeting devices had directed AC-130 gunships to attack the anti-aircraft sites, which the commander said were often placed near homes to discourage attacks.

At Bagram air base, U.S. military spokesman Colonel Roger King said investigators had seen some weapons mounted on cars that could have been the source of anti-aircraft fire.

Afghans maintain the villagers were merely firing in the air to celebrate the wedding of the son and daughter of two tribal elders, with 500 guests assembled for a five-day party.

Like an abattoir Survivors, among them young girls and old women, have told of the carnage as their party was shattered by a hail of metal from at least two gunships. One woman described it as "like an abattoir", while another said bodies were "flying like straws".

King said Afghans were talking of 40 to 44 dead and about 130 wounded "but we haven't seen anything that would verify that".

In Washington, the Pentagon said on Wednesday that investigators had seen blood during its two hour visit to the village, but had not seen graves or bodies.

Muslims bury their dead as soon as possible. The Stars and Stripes reporter said villagers had offered to show the team to the "garden" where the bodies had been buried, although they had explained the team would have to drive there.

The Stars and Stripes reporter said it was not clear why the investigating team had not visited the grave site, but King said the team would return on Thursday and would make "every attempt" to see the graves.

The investigators, who also include senior members of the Afghan government, are expected back in Kabul on Friday when they will hold a debriefing with Karzai or a representative, as well as U.S. commander General Dan McNeill. They are then expected to address the media.

Among the survivors interviewed by Reuters in a hospital in the city of Kandahar, anger was mixed with incomprehension.

"The Americans have destroyed us," said retired local official Ma'amoor Abdul Qayyum, who saw his 11-year-old son die in front of his eyes. "We have neither seen al Qaeda people nor Taliban but they bombed us. What did we do wrong?"

Fourteen-year-old Siddiqa Bibi said simply: "Too many bombs were dropped on us by Karzai's planes."