HUTALA, Afghanistan -- Hats and shoes littered a blood-stained field in this desolate Afghan village Sunday, a day after U.S. warplanes -- targeting a terror suspect -- mistakenly killed nine children.
American officials offered their regrets Sunday and said they were "deeply saddened" by the deaths. The United Nations called for an investigation. And the Afghan government urged the U.S.-led coalition hunting Taliban and al-Qaida fighters to make sure such an accident is never repeated.
In Hutala on Sunday, a line of fresh graves marked the tragedy, and village men stood quietly by a stream in a dusty field where the children had been playing. They seemed as bewildered as they were angry.
"First they fire their rockets. Then they say it was a mistake," Haji Amir Mohammed told The Associated Press, as dozens of American soldiers sent to investigate the incident offered condolences or lay in the warming winter sun. "How can we forgive them?"
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