Afghan civilians killed in anti-Taliban operations

Oct 1, 2009, 11:28 GMT

   Kabul - Up to seven civilians were killed in NATO-led operations, including an airstrike, that also left several Taliban militants dead, provincial authorities said Thursday.

   NATO confirmed in a statement that it received reports that civilians, including women and children, were killed Wednesday when its forces dropped a 'single precision-guided bomb' on an insurgent position in the Nad Ali district of the southern province of Helmand.

   The bomb was dropped after 'an extensive engagement' between NATO troops and militants in the compound, it said.

   A number of civilians were treated by alliance forces on the ground or were transported to a NATO hospital in the area, it said, adding that NATO was investigating the incident and meeting with local villagers.

   Daoud Ahmadi, spokesman for the provincial governor, confirmed that 'a number of civilians' were killed and wounded in the airstrike but could not provide any figures, saying an investigation was under way.

   Haji Abdul Manan, a local tribal chief, said a couple, four of their children and three guests were killed in the air raid. He said the three guests could have been Taliban members, but he insisted, 'I know the man was a farmer, not Taliban.'

   The Afghan Defence Ministry said in a statement that Afghan army troops backed by international forces killed five militants and detained two in the Nad Ali district Wednesday.

   It was not known whether the army statement was referring to the same incident in the district or a separate operation.

   Meanwhile, US forces arrested a Taliban fighter and killed his nephew in the central province of Logar, said Gholam Mustafa Mohseni, the provincial police chief.

   He said the detained man, Mullah Atiqullah, was a wanted Taliban member in the region, but his nephew, Jan Mohammad, was a local shopkeeper.

   But a NATO military statement said a militant was killed in Logar province after 'he displayed hostile intent.' It said a civilian man was wounded in the operation.

   Afghan and international forces also killed several Taliban militants and detained an unknown number of other rebels during operations Wednesday and Thursday in the southern provinces of Kandahar and Ghazni, the statement added.

   Civilian casualties at the hands of international forces have become a source of friction between the Afghan government and its international military allies.

   The new NATO commander for more than 100,000 international troops in Afghanistan, US General Stanley McChrystal, has ordered his forces to make protecting civilian their top priority and limit the use of airstrikes in populated areas.