KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) – The Afghan president on Saturday said a U.S. air strike this month killed 10 civilians, including women and children, contradicting American military reports that claimed the casualties were Taliban militants.

Meanwhile, the U.S. military said an arms dump blast that killed eight soldiers appeared to have been an accident.

The bloody events highlighted the pitfalls of the U.S. mission to defeat an escalating insurgency by supporters of the former ruling Taliban and al-Qaida that threatens summer elections.

President Hamid Karzai said an Interior Ministry report had found that the Jan. 17 air strike on a village killed 10 civilians – despite the U.S. military’s declaration that five Taliban militants and no civilians died.

“There are casualties unfortunately, according to the report that I have received, of civilians, of children and men and women,” Karzai told reporters at his palace in the capital Kabul.

On Saturday, U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty said the Americans took the concerns of the Afghan government “very seriously,” and that a review of its report was underway.

Many Afghans are disenchanted by the risks taken by the U.S.-led coalition in using devastating military force in pursuit of terror suspects. The Jan. 17 raid followed two botched air strikes on villages in December that killed 15 children.

The U.S. military, meanwhile, said it had suffered its worst one-time loss of life among its 9,000 forces in Afghanistan when eight soldiers died in an arms dump blast on Thursday near Ghazni, about 90 miles southwest of Kabul.

Hilferty said the soldiers were preparing to destroy a cache of mortar rounds and rifle ammunition when one or more of them detonated. Investigators earlier feared the soldiers might have walked into a trap.

In all, some 107 U.S. soldiers have died – 37 of them in combat – during Operation Enduring Freedom that began in Afghanistan in late 2001.

In Washington this week, U.S. officials expressed confidence of capturing Osama bin Laden and Taliban leader Mullah Omar this year and revealed plans for a spring offensive.

Karzai welcomed the U.S. optimism, saying it was a sign that bin Laden was still likely in the region, hiding on either side of the rugged Afghan border with Pakistan.

“His exact location is not known,” he said.

A statement purportedly from Omar – also thought to be sheltering along the frontier – vowed to defeat American forces in Afghanistan, and accused Karzai’s U.S.-backed government of destroying Islamic values.

“The spell of American oppression will be broken to pieces,” said the statement, which was faxed Saturday to The Associated Press in the Pakistani border city of Peshawar.

It was not possible to independently confirm the authenticity of the statement, delivered ahead of the start of the Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha, or Feast of Sacrifice.

The Taliban leader accused Karzai’s government of “throwing dust into the eyes of the people” by adopting a new constitution and planning elections, which he said were a means for America “to justify its illegal occupation.”

“For Muslims, that fraud democracy is bringing the gifts of killings, bombings, destruction of homes,” Omar said.

In recent months, Taliban rebels have stepped up attacks. The Taliban claimed responsibility for two suicide attacks this week that killed one Canadian and one British peacekeeper in the Afghan capital, and said it was the start of a bombing campaign across the country.

The violence has killed more than 80 people during January alone, raising doubts over whether national elections, slated for June, can go ahead as scheduled.

Karzai, who enjoys strong support in Washington, is favored to win the presidency.

AP-ES-01-31-04 1440EST

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