An investigation has found that more than 90 civilians, mostly women and children, were killed in coalition air strikes days ago, an Afghan government minister told AFP Sunday.
President Hamid Karzai ordered the investigation into Friday's operation in the western province of Herat after Afghan officials said high numbers of civilians were killed but the US-led coalition said only 30 militants died.
The toll is one of the highest for civilians since international troops arrived in Afghanistan to topple the hard-line Taliban regime in late 2001 and comes after a string of such incidents, most of them involving air strikes.
"We went to the area and found out that the bombardment was very heavy, lots of houses have been destroyed and more than 90 non-combatants including women, children and elderly people have died," the Islamic affairs minister told AFP after his visit to Shindand district earlier Sunday. "Most are women and children," said the minister, Nematullah Shahrani. Shahrani said his investigation was continuing and he was due to meet US Special Forces who had been involved in the operation with Afghan troops and commandos.
"They have claimed that Taliban were there. They must prove it," the minister said. "So far, it is not clear for us why the coalition conducted the air strikes," he said.
He said his preliminary investigation had also found that there was no co-ordination between the Afghan and international troops involved.