US-led raid kills six civilians, Afghan official says
KHOST, Afghanistan (AFP) — An operation by US-led forces in Afghanistan Wednesday left six civilians dead, a provincial official said, but the force confirmed only that two civilians and several rebels were killed.
Two children, a woman and three men -- all members of the same family -- were killed in the pre-dawn strike in the eastern province of Khost, provincial government spokesman Khaiber Pashtun said.
The US-led coalition confirmed an operation to "disrupt militant activities" and said a woman and a boy were killed, along with several insurgents.
The troops had come under fire while searching for rebels suspected of carrying out bombings and supplying weapons to others, the coalition said in a statement.
"Several armed militants were killed when they fired on coalition forces during the search. Coalition forces returned fire," it said.
"Coalition forces discovered a dead woman during a post-hostilities assessment in a building where one of the barricaded militants fired on coalition forces," it said.
A dead child was found in a second compound, it added. Two suspects were detained.
Witnesses told AFP the children were boys aged seven and 10. Their father and mother were among the dead. Another woman was wounded, Pashtun told AFP.
People in the area, the Nadir Shah Kot district, shouted slogans against the United States after the incident, a man claiming to be a resident told AFP over the telephone.
The incident is similar to scores of others in the nearly seven-year campaign to rid Afghanistan of rebels whom the international military forces accuse of sheltering in villages and using civilians as "shields."
The issue of civilian casualties is deeply sensitive in Afghanistan, where the US-backed government of President Hamid Karzai, supported by nearly 70,000 foreign troops, is trying to win public support against the Taliban.
The coalition, a US-dominated force of about 20,000 soldiers, works on rounding up militants linked to the Taliban insurgent group as well as other rebel outfits that carry out attacks on the Afghan government and its allies.
Another NATO-led force of about 47,000 soldiers from 40 countries also operates in Afghanistan.
The Taliban, in government between 1996 and 2001, lead an insurgency which was its deadliest last year with more than 8,000 people killed.
Most of the dead were rebels but 1,500 civilians also lost their lives, according to UN figures.
Khost, which borders Pakistan, has seen a spike in militant attacks in recent weeks, including a rash of suicide bombings, one of which killed two NATO soldiers.
