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Villagers: Civilians killed in US airstrike in Afghanistan
Residents of a remote village in southern Afghanistan said Thursday that U.S. warplanes bombed houses during operations against militants this week, killing several civilians and wounding others - including a one-month-old baby, AP reported. Zabul province Gov. Ali Khail said U.S.-led coalition forces had "made a mistake" during recent operations in the province, but gave no details. "There were some casualties among villagers, but I don't know the exact number of casualties," he said. The U.S. military, however, denied any civilians had been in the area of the fighting Monday in the Day Chopan district where the villagers come from. The military said earlier that 18 suspected insurgents and one U.S. service member were killed in a clash - one of five Americans to die in action in Afghanistan in the past week. Two villagers spoke to The Associated Press at a hospital in the provincial capital, Qalat, a few hours drive from their home village of Rauf, which they said had been pounded by American forces on Monday night and early Tuesday. "The children were crying and they were very afraid," said a weeping Sadia Bibi, 50. "These planes killed my relatives. We are poor and innocent people. Why are they killing us?" Bibi's 20-year-old daughter Najiba Bibi and one-month-old grandson were being treated at the hospital for injuries to their hands and legs, which she said had been struck by pieces of brick during the bombing. Both the woman and boy were bandaged. Bibi claimed her 55-year-old brother, Abdul Shakor, and his wife were killed along with a 16-year-old boy named Matiullah. A relative who brought the injured to the hospital, Abdul Halim, 35, said his neighbor's house had been bombed, killing a man who lived there. Also, one woman from the village died at a hospital in neighboring Kandahar province after arriving there with two other injured women on Wednesday, a doctor at the hospital, Mohammed Hashil, told the AP by phone Thursday. U.S. military spokeswoman, Lt. Cindy Moore, however, said intelligence indicated there had been no civilian casualties. "My understanding is that our intelligence shows no civilians in this area. It was a remote area. The targets were in an open area. We were firing back ... this is possibly propaganda press. We don't have any assessment of any civilians in this area," she told AP. The U.S. military reported earlier that the fighting in Day Chopan was sparked when a U.S. and Afghan patrol came under fire from militants using small-arms and rocket-propelled grenades and that coalition aircraft had joined the battle. Afghan officials and human rights groups have complained repeatedly about civilian casualties in U.S.-led military operations, saying heavy-handed tactics could stoke sympathy for militants who have maintained a stubborn insurgency since the fall of the hardline Taliban regime in 2001. American commanders insist they modify their operations to try to avoid hurting civilians and accuse militants of using civilians for protection. Sporadic militant attacks across the country have deepened concerns over security ahead of key legislative elections set for September 18. The vote represents the country's next step toward democracy after two decades of war and civil strife.
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