The West at War: The victims: BLITZ ON OUR ALLIES; Bombing blunder

AT least 10 civilians were feared killed and 20 injured last night after an American bomb hit a Northern Alliance village by mistake during the heaviest air raids so far against the Taliban.

All day the US pounded the Taliban frontline troops north of the capital Kabul - and within sight of the Northern Alliance lines.

Wave after wave of American warplanes carried out the most continuous blitz since the air campaign began three weeks ago.

But as night fell again one jet overshot and its bombs hit the tiny Afghanistan village of Ghanikhil about two miles into Northern Alliance territory.

A family of 10 are believed to have died as their mud-and-wood two- storey house disintegrated.

Sensing the growing unease over the latest air strikes, Tony Blair last night reaffirmed the need for Britain to hold its nerve and rely on our "moral fibre" to defeat the evils of terrorism.

He took the unusual step of issuing a statement from his country residence at Chequers.

The PM said: "Whatever failings we have, Britain is a very moral nation with a strong sense of right and wrong and that moral fibre will defeat the fanaticism of these terrorists."

His comments were made after it emerged that angry neighbours in the bombed village had threatened to take their revenge out on a British TV crew mistaken for Americans.

Sky TV's Geoff Meade told last night how the people turned on him and his cameraman. "We had to leave fairly quickly," he said. "There was such anti-American feeling in that small community, understandably so. When they heard us speaking English and trying to use a satellite phone they actually thought I was calling in more air strikes.

"We were threatened with detention. The cameraman and myself were told that as families there had lost loved ones, our families should lose loved ones as well. It was very tense. We explained we weren't American, but English and only allowed out under armed guard. Two armed men accompanied us and we were not allowed to stop for another hour," he said.

The air bombardment began on Friday night and went on until the early hours of yesterday morning, and then again throughout the day as the jets dropped their deadly payloads. At daylight US aircraft continued the bombardment on Kabul. Great plumes of smoke could be seen rising from behind the mountains. This was by far America's most forceful bombardment on the Taliban on the 20th day of air strikes.

By early yesterday F18 Hornet jets again targeted the Taliban's front line nearest to Kabul.

We saw the aircraft repeatedly drop their 1000lb bombs close to each other in a bid to obliterate positions occupied by terrorist Osama bin Laden's supporters, mainly Arabs and Pakistanis who are now confronting the Alliance troops.

The Americans received complaints from Alliance commanders that their raids were very much a hit-and-miss affair.

One incredibly loud explosion was less than a mile from where we viewed the sustained assault on the Taliban, who did not respond with anti-aircraft fire. Clearly frustrated Taliban responded by sending a shell over our heads at the three- storey-high mud hut Alliance command post in Rabat, where we are based.

Yesterday the American bombers appeared to be flying higher than on previous missions. Alliance commanders have warned the Americans that the Taliban are equipped with Stinger missiles which are capable of downing planes that venture too close to their target.

Alliance commander Khadim Adin praised the American bomb attacks. He said: "In the earlier days the Americans have been bombing for show, but I believe that they are now serious in wanting to destroy the Taliban, bin Laden and his al-Qaeda terrorists.

"We can only advance towards the capital if the Americans take out the Taliban front line."

The Pentagon have been forced to admit a series of bombs going off target and hitting civilians.

And aid workers have warned thousands of people were at risk after four out of five Red Cross food depots were destroyed in a bombing run at the weekend - one near Kabul was hit for the second time.

International Red Cross spokesman Kim Gordon-Bates said: "People are going to suffer. and miss emergency supplies."

The depots - all with red crosses on their roofs - contained food, tents, tarpaulins, blankets and jerry cans, all necessary as the severe Afghan winter looms.

Mr Gordon-Bates added: "When the first warehouse was hit 10 days ago we were told it was a mistake. Now it is another mistake. The Red Cross is supposed to be a symbol of neutrality. That has not been respected twice running. It is extremely serious if forces start disregarding our emblem."

American Black Hawk helicopters have been secretly flown into a former Soviet-controlled military base in Tajikstan 10 miles from the Afghanistan border, fuelling speculation that a ground force is ready to hit the Taliban.

-Paris Match journalist Michel Peyrard, arrested by the Taliban for entering Afghanistan, is to be put on trial for spying.

The death toll in an anti- Western bombing protest in Bombay, India, rose to seven yesterday when four injured protesters shot by police died in hospital.

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