US warplanes 'bomb Afghan wedding party'

Two dozen children are said to be among the dead after US warplanes reportedly bombed a wedding party in Afghanistan. US military officials said the incident, in which up to 40 civilians were reportedly killed and the bride wounded, was being investigated. The party was taking place close to where Taliban militants took cover.

A US spokesman said that if "innocent people were killed in this operation, we apologise and express our condolences". But the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, called on the US and its president-elect, Barack Obama, to stop civilian killings.

"Our demand is that there will be no civilian casualties in Afghanistan. We cannot win the fight against terrorism with airstrikes. This is my first demand of the new president of the United States."

The incident is believed to have taken place on Tuesday at Shah Wali Kot in Kandahar province, south-eastern Afghanistan. A villager, Abdul Jalil, said that he had been hosting a wedding party for his niece when militants fighting American forces took cover nearby. He said 37 people had been killed. A villager said two of his sons, aged four and 11, were among the dead. The reported deaths come three months after an Afghan government inquiry found that a US operation earlier this year had killed 90 civilians in the country's west.

The US said that 33 civilians had died. About 1,300 civilians have been killed in fighting with the Taliban this year.