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Kabul horrified by civilian casualties in US-led operation

Afghanistan can no longer accept or understand civilian deaths, President Hamid Karzai said, after officials reported that 51 villagers died during a US-led operation against Taliban militants in western Afghanistan.

Despite claims on Wednesday that women and children were among the dead, the US military maintained it had no reports of civilian casualties. Amid mounting public anger, students staged an anti-US protest in an eastern city.

The coalition said the military operation, including airstrikes, was conducted between Friday and Sunday by US and Afghan forces in Herat Province's Zerkoh Valley and killed 136 suspected Taliban -- the deadliest fighting in Afghanistan since January.

The bloodshed sparked angry anti-US protests this week by villagers, and Mohammad Homayoun Azizi, chief of Herat's provincial council, said two council members who visited the area reported to him that 51 civilians were killed.

The officials were part of a delegation including lawmakers, police and intelligence officials who investigated the incident.

Osman Kalali, a lawmaker from Herat who was part of the delegation investigating the incident, said they did not see any Taliban or militants.

"The casualties were women, children, this kind of people," he said.

"We do everything we can to prevent civilian casualties in our operations, and we have no reports of civilian casualties in that operation," coalition spokesman Major Chris Belcher said.

Karzai met with NATO, US and EU officials telling them "civilian deaths and arbitrary decisions to search people's houses have reached an unacceptable level, and Afghans cannot put up with it any longer," a statement from his office said.

Meanwhile, gunmen killed a lawmaker who briefly served as prime minister during the civil war, officials said on Wednesday.

Abdul Saboor Fari of the upper house of parliament was shot outside his house in Kabul on Wednesday, said General Zulmay Khan, Kabul Province's deputy police chief.
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