'Cruel' Americans stormed homes, filmed naked women: villagers

US soldiers stormed the homes of Afghan villagers after they were bombed in a US air-raid last weekend and barred people from treating their wounded relatives, outraged Afghans said here.

"First they bombed the womenfolk, killing them like animals. Then they stormed into the houses and tied the hands of men and women," Mohammad Anwar told AFP at Kakrakai village in central Uruzgan province's Dehrawad district.

"It was cruelty. After bombing the area, the US forces rushed to that house, cordoned it off and refused to let the people help the victims or take them away for treatment," he said.

Anwar was pointing to the home of his brother Sharif, who was hosting a huge pre-wedding party for his son on the night of June 30 when US airships strafed Karkrakai and surrounding villages.

Sharif, who risked the wrath of the Taliban to keep Afghan President Hamid Karzai alive during his daring mission into then-Taliban-ruled central Afghanistan last October, was killed.

So were Anwar's wife, Sharif's wife and four children. The groom-to-be son survived because he was confined to a separate house as local wedding tradition decrees.

The US-led coalition commander in Afghanistan, Lieutenant General Dan McNeil, announced Saturday that 48 people, according to Afghan officials, had been killed.