U.S. Airstrikes on Taliban Hit Homes, Kill Civilians

Jul 01, 07:15 AM

Current Headlines: By NOOR KHAN

By Noor Khan

The Associated Press

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan

U.S.-led airstrikes targeting Taliban militants who had attacked NATO forces slammed into civilian homes in southern Afghanistan, killing civilians and insurgents, Afghan and Western officials said Saturday.

As with most battles in the dangerous and remote regions of Afghanistan, casualty estimates varied widely.

Local government officials said as many as to 60 civilians and 35 insurgents had been killed in the fighting in Helmand province's Gereshk district late Friday. NATO did not give an estimate of casualties, but one Western military official said that around eight civilians had been killed.

It was not possible to independently verify the casualty claims.

The United States acknowledged that some civilians were killed after fighters sought shelter in village homes, a familiar scenario in Afghanistan that has led to the deaths of hundreds of innocent bystanders this year.

The U.S. news release did not say how many civilians were killed.

A British soldier was killed when Taliban fired on coalition forces in the southern village of Qaleh-e-Gaz, Britain's defense ministry said.

The battle in Gereshk district began when Taliban fighters tried to ambush a joint U.S.-Afghan military convoy late Friday before fleeing into the nearby village of Hyderabad for cover, said Mohammad Hussein, Helmand's provincial police chief.

Airstrikes targeted the militants in the village, said Dur Ali Shah, the mayor of Gereshk.

Shah said late Saturday that between 50 and 60 civilians and 35 Taliban fighters had been killed. He said the fighters were mostly Arab.

Maj. John Thomas, a spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force, said the military had no information "at this time to corroborate numbers that large." He said NATO would not fire on positions if it knew there were civilians nearby.

"It's the enemy fighters who willingly fire when civilians are standing right next to them," he said.

The U.S.-led coalition said the airstrikes were in response to machine gun, mortar and rocker propelled grenade attacks on an Afghan-coalition patrol.

"It appears that ANA (Afghan National Army) and coalition forces fired at clearly identified firing positions," said Maj. Chris Belcher, a coalition spokesman. "Remains of some people who apparently were civilians were found among insurgent fighters who were killed in firing positions in a trench line."

Belcher accused militants of hiding among civilians.

Mohammad Khan, a resident of Hyderabad, said seven members of his family, including his brother and five of his brother's children, were killed by airstrikes.

The villagers on Saturday were burying a "lot of dead bodies," Khan said.

Civilians deaths caused by U.S.- and NATO-led troops have infuriated Afghans and prompted President Hamid Karzai to publicly condemn the forces for carelessness and viewing Afghan lives as "cheap."

He has urged restraint and better coordination of military operations with the government, while also blaming the Taliban for using civilians as human shields.

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