Karzai orders probe into civilian deaths

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has ordered an investigation into a US-led coalition airstrike that local officials say killed 22 civilians, but the US military says killed only armed Taliban militants. An Afghan district governor said 22 people, most of them women and children, were killed Sunday when US-led coalition air strikes hit a wedding party in eastern Afghanistan, but the force insisted only militants were killed.
"I confirm that 22 people, three of them men and 19 of them women and children, were killed," said Hamisha Gul, governor of Deh Bala district in the eastern province of Nangarhar.
The issue of civilian casualties is an emotive one in Afghanistan, feeding a common perception international forces do not take enough care when launching airstrikes, and undermining support for their continued presence in the country. Nearly 700 Afghan civilians were killed in the first six months of this year, 255 of them by Afghan government and international troops, the rest by Taliban militants.
Coalition ground troops called in air support from attack helicopters after militants attacked an outpost in the north-eastern province of Nuristan on Friday, the US military said in a statement on Saturday.
"The helicopter crews co-ordinated with ground forces to positively identify the militants' vehicles. The attack helicopters then destroyed the two vehicles, killing more than a dozen militants," it said. But the governor of Nuristan said 15 civilians were killed and seven wounded in the attack in the Waigal district of Nuristan and none of the victims were militants.
Karzai ordered the Defence and Interior Ministries and a body that oversees local government to investigate, a statement from the presidential palace said on Sunday.
"President Hamid Karzai has repeatedly emphasised the (need for) co-ordination of military operations and has been deeply saddened since learning about this incident," the statement said. Both the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and US-led coalition forces say they take the utmost care to avoid killing civilians and ISAF tightened procedures for launching airstrikes a year ago, which has had some effect.
ISAF accuses the Taliban of launching attacks from built-up areas in order to deliberately court civilian deaths. But with the US Pentagon warning last week that the Taliban are likely to intensify the scope and pace of their attacks, more civilians are certain to be caught in the cross-fire.