Afghan rescue workers dug through the rubble of the U.N.-funded de-mining office in Kabul this morning after a U.S.missile scored a direct hit, killing four people. The men killed worked for the Afghan Technical Consultants, which had an office in a village two miles east of Kabul. The building was totally destroyed, prompting the UN to issue an appeal to the international community in general ­the US and Britain in particular ­ not to attack civilians as the ybomb Afghanistan.

The destruction of the landmines removal office is a heavy blow. Afghanistan is already one of the most heavilymined places on earth, and the US and British attacks on the country are expected to make the threat posed by landmines even worse, as tens of thousands of people flee their homes.

Guest:

• Mary Wareham, former coordinator of the US Campaign to Ban Landmines, she now works at Human Rights Watchon land mines issues.

Related links:

• International Campaign to Ban Landmines
• Human Rights Watch–Afghanistan