Seven Afghan civilians, 23 Taliban killed in US attacks (Roundup)

Kabul - At least seven civilians and 13 Taliban insurgents were killed in a US airstrike in western Afghanistan, while ten more insurgents were killed in separate fights with US military forces elsewhere in the country, officials said Thursday. The latest airstrike took place on Wednesday in Ghormach district of the western province of Badghis after a group of Taliban militants attacked US military troops in the area. Abdul Ghani Saboori, deputy provincial governor of Badghis province, said seven civilians were killed when US-led coalition warplane bombed their houses in the district. He said at least 13 Taliban militants were also killed in airstrike and clashes with coalition forces in the district's Khatoon and Jar Sia villages. However, Dawlat Osmani, head of the provincial council of Badghis province, said that according to information he got from the area, around 30 civilians were killed in the air raid. The US military also said in a statement that they were aware of allegations that civilians were killed in Ghormach district and they were investigating the incident. 'We do not know all the facts at this time but we will investigate this situation to get to the truth,' Colonel Greg Julian, a US spokesman, said in a statement. 'If we find that innocent people were killed in this incident, we apologize and express our sincere condolences to the families and the people of Afghanistan,' Julian said. Due to the remoteness of the area, it was difficult to verify the contradicting reports by Afghan provincial officials independently. The deaths happened after a US-led coalition airstrike killed 40 civilians and wounded 28 others in Shah Wali Kot district of southern Kandahar province on Monday during an anti-insurgent operation. The raid took place near a house where a wedding party was taking place, and the dead civilians included several women and children and the newly-wed bride, villagers said. The US military said in a statement on Thursday that nine insurgents were killed in Monday's air raid, while they blamed the Taliban for forcing the civilians to remain in the battlefield as they kept firing on the joint Afghan and coalition forces. The statement said that a joint delegation, including provincial officials of Kandahar province, Afghan police, Afghan intelligence and a US forces investigator would conduct the investigation to find the facts surrounding the incident. Civilian casualties have become a matter of great concern for Afghan government officials, who fear that the mounting civilian deaths at the hands of international forces erode public support for their central government. A shortage of international soldiers in Afghanistan has forced military commanders on the ground to increase their reliance on air raids, which often result in civilian deaths. During a press conference congratulating US president-elect Barack Obama on Wednesday, President Hamid Karzai said his 'first demand from Obama 'was to end civilian casualties in Afghanistan.' 'The fight against terrorism cannot be fought in our villages,' said Karzai. 'Our country is a victim of terrorism and we demand for civilian casualties to be eliminated,' the president said. Afghan officials have repeatedly said that the international fight against terrorism should target areas inside Pakistan along the border with Afghanistan, where they alleged the militants were widely entrenched. Meanwhile, Afghan and coalition forces killed eight Taliban militants in Khas Uruzgan district of Uruzgan province on Tuesday, the US military said in a statement. The militants were killed after they attacked a joint Afghan and coalition medical team which was delivering humanitarian assistance to villagers, it said, adding that no Afghan or coalition soldiers were killed or wounded in the firefight. Two more insurgents were killed on Thursday in Jaji Maidan district of the south-eastern province of Khost by coalition forces, a separate US military statement said. More than 4,000 people - mostly insurgents but including at least 1,500 civilians - have been killed in the Afghanistan conflict so far this year.