Afghan government says NATO raid killed six civilians

Dec 8, 2009, 12:24 GMT

Kabul - NATO officials on Tuesday disputed a report by the Afghan government that a NATO raid in eastern Afghanistan earlier in the day had killed six civilians, saying only seven militants died in the operation.

President Hamid Karzai ordered the country's Interior Ministry to launch an investigation into a NATO raid that took place in Armul village near the capital of the eastern province of Laghman Tuesday morning, the presidential palace said in a statement.

The statement said six civilians, including a woman, were killed in NATO's pre-dawn attack. Almost all NATO troops deployed to eastern Afghanistan are from the United States.

NATO rejected the report, but said that its forces killed seven militants and detained four others while pursuing a Taliban roadside bomb maker responsible for several suicide attacks in the region.

'We are aware of civilian casualty allegations, however, there are no operational reports to substantiate those claims of harming civilians, including women and children, during this operation,' Jane Campbell, a NATO spokeswoman, was quoted as saying in the statement.

Civilian casualties during NATO military operations have sparked outrage in Afghanistan in the past. Karzai said the civilian deaths have sapped the Afghan public's support for their government and the presence of the international forces.

NATO also confirmed the death of a British soldier, who was killed in a Taliban attack in southern Afghanistan on Monday. The death took the number of British soldiers killed in the country in 2009 to 100.

This year has been the deadliest so far for the around 110,000 NATO troops stationed in Afghanistan. Some additional 30,000 US troops and up to 7,000 soldiers from other NATO countries are expected be deployed to Afghanistan by next summer.