U.S. Troops Clash With Taliban

06/30/2007

Associated Press | June 30, 2007


KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - U.S.-led coalition and Afghan troops clashed with Taliban militants in southern Afghanistan, and subsequent airstrikes killed several people, including civilians, a police chief said Saturday.

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

Coalition troops called in airstrikes against militants hiding in the village, leaving several people, including civilians, killed and wounded, Hussein said.

Hussein could not provide exact casualty figures and the U.S.-led coalition said it was looking into the report.

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

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

Violence has soared in Afghanistan with more than 2,800 people, mostly militants, killed in fighting this year, according to an Associated Press tally of figures from Western military and Afghan officials.

A count by the United Nations and an umbrella organization of Afghan and international aid groups shows the number of civilians killed by international forces was slightly greater than the number killed by insurgents in the first half of the year.

An AP count based on figures from Afghan and international officials found that militants killed 178 civilians in attacks through June 23 and that Western forces killed 203. The U.S. and NATO say they don't have civilian casualty figures.

In the southern Helmand province's Sangin district, NATO-led and Afghan troops clashed with Taliban fighters on Friday, leaving 15 militants dead, said Ezatullah Khan, a district chief.

There were no casualties among NATO and Afghan troops, Khan said.

Also in the south, two suspected Taliban were killed while trying to place a homemade bomb on the side of a road in Zhari district of Kandahar province on Friday, said Ghulam Rasool, the district's police chief.

Three children also were killed Friday and another wounded when an old rocket they were playing with exploded in Zabul province in the south, said Gen. Yaqoub Khan, the provincial police chief.