Defence secretary Geoff Hoon on Tuesday visited Kabul amid renewed questions over the US's continuing bombing campaign.

American officials admitted on Monday that a bomber and a gunship had attacked a wedding party in the Uruzgan province, with some reports putting the death toll at more than 30.

The US said their forces had come under hostile fire, but there is mounting speculation that celebratory gunfire from the wedding party might have led to the military action.

Arriving in Kabul on Monday night as news of the bombing came to light, the British defence secretary was due to meet Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, and defence minister Marshal, Fahim Khan.

Meetings with UN special envoy, Lahkdar Brahimi, and major general Zorlu, the Turkish Commander of the International Security Assistance Force, were also on the agenda.

Hoon was also scheduled to meet with British troops still serving in Kabul as part of ISAF.

He will meet with Marines based at Bagram airfield, including their much-criticised commander, Brigadier Roger Lane.

But in Britain, Labour MPs have stepped up their criticism of the US bombing campaign, which the administration says is targeted at the remaining al Qaeda and Taliban forces.

Alan Simpson said the US reliance on bombing from the air meant that "you are going to end up with this sort of catastrophic misjudgement happening again and again".

Fellow Labour backbencher Alice Mahon added: "There needs to be a full international inquiry and an end to this way of conducting war."

The US campaign has seen numerous "friendly fire" incidents, including an attack which led to the deaths of four Canadian soldiers.

After leaving Kabul, Hoon is due to meet with Pakistan's president Musharraf on Wednesday before visiting New Delhi on Thursday where he will meet with Indian prime minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee.

As well as moves to reduce tensions between both countries, the Ministry of Defence said the minister would also be discussing wider defence issues with both countries.