40 insurgents, civilians killed in attacks in Afghanistan (1st Lead)

Jan 7, 2009, 9:44 GMT

   Kabul - US-led coalition forces claimed Wednesday their forces killed 32 insurgents, including an armed female militant, in eastern Afghanistan, while eight women were killed in a Taliban rocket attack in the southern region, officials said.

   The combined forces targeted a group of 75 Taliban-led militants in Alishang district of the eastern province of Laghman on Tuesday and destroyed two large caches of weapons and roadside bomb materials, the US military said in a statement.

   'The targeted Taliban network was involved in planning, building and emplacing roadside bombs as well as attacks against civilian and Coalition forces throughout 2008,' the statement said.

   The militants fired on the joint forces as they reached the targeted village, the statement said, adding that the coalition forces returned their fire only with small arms fire and avoided using close air support or artillery in order to minimize the potential for the civilians casualties.

   The joint forces found two large caches of weapons and explosives and destroyed them on the spot, because of the unstable nature of the explosive munitions, it said, adding, 'Secondary blasts from the unstable explosives destroyed the building they (militants) were hidden in.'

   Due to the remoteness of the area, it was difficult to verify the claimed death toll independently. Such operations in populated areas in the past have resulted in deaths of several civilians as well as insurgents.

In another incident, eight Afghan women were killed and nine other civilians including a child were wounded by a rocket fired by suspected Taliban militants in Tarin Kot district of the southern province of Uruzgan, said Gholab Khan Wardak, the provincial police security chief.

The rocket attack happened on Monday when NATO-led forces were clashing with a group Taliban militants in the area, he said, adding, 'The rocket hit a road near the civilians, who were escaping from their homes in fear of NATO's airstrike.'

He said NATO's warplanes were in the area at the time of the rocket attack.

   Separately, NATO forces rejected reports that several civilians were killed during their operation in Bughran district of southern Helmand province on Tuesday morning.

   Afghan local media, quoting village residents, reported that up to 11 civilians, including a medical doctor, were killed in the NATO operation, but the alliance said in a statement that those killed were all insurgents.

   'During the operation, a group of insurgents were positively identified leaving a compound that had been under observation. When these personnel were clear of the compound, they were engaged by ISAF forces,' the statement said.

   The statement said that the NATO-led international forces were aware of allegations, but they had 'no knowledge of casualties other than the positively identified insurgents.'

   Civilian casualties at the hands of international forces have become a sensitive issue for the Western-backed President Hamid Karzai's government.

   Karzai has repeatedly warned that increasing civilian deaths would erode public support for his government and would provoke anti-foreigner sentiments in Afghanistan.

   At least 1,500 civilians were among 4,000 killed in the first eight months of last year, according to United Nations officials in Afghanistan.