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In what appears to be becoming a regular feature, a contrite United States Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Clarke admitted that two 500 pound bombs missed their targets landing in a civilian locality in northern Kabul, while a 1000 pound bomb was mistakenly dropped in an open field near an old people's home in Herat in western Afghanistan.
While dismissing the Taleban's claim on casualties as exaggerated, she said the US was still investigating the incidents, and did not have casualty figures.
Responding to a question on the reported bombing of a hospital in Herat, Clarke said that she did not have any information to that effect.
On Monday, the Taleban ambassador to Pakistan said 100 people were killed in a US air strike on Herat.
But the United Nations, apparently nailing the US lie, confirmed that a hospital inside a military compound in Herat was hit during US strikes on Monday.
UN spokeswoman Stephanie Bunker said the local UN staff in Herat had told her that the hospital was 'totally destroyed', but had given her no information about casualties.
She said in Afghanistan military hospitals also took in civilian patients, but could not confirm if the hospital was marked with a red crescent.
Meanwhile, US jets kept up their relentless pounding of frontline Taleban positions near the Baigam air base, considered to be beneficial to the opposition Northern Alliance forces massed along the Kabul borders.
It marked the third day of air strikes in the area.
CNN reported that the Taleban were putting up a stiff resistance, with mortar and artillery gunfire.
US jets also pounded areas around the Taleban stronghold of Kandahar on Tuesday morning, targeting fuel depots.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon again denying Taleban claims of having shot down a US helicopter clarified that two its choppers had come under fire in Pakistan, as their crews attempted to retrieve the wreckage of another helicopter that had crashed during a covert weekend commando raid.
A Pentagon spokesman also admitted that that yet another aircraft had lost its wheels during that undercover raid, but returned safely to its base.
He said the wheels and tires came from a CH-47 Chinook helicopter, a tandem-rotor aircraft used to transport troops.
As the helicopter was approaching an attack site, it hit a barrier, ripping off the front-wheel landing gear, he added.
The accident resulted in no injuries, and the Chinook was able to land safely across the border in Pakistan, he said.
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