Karzai urges coalition restraint

KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghan President Hamid Karzai urged U.S.-led coalition forces on Monday to show restraint when attacking militants in residential areas after more than a dozen civilians and police died in two possible "friendly fire" incidents.

As commanders began investigating the 13 deaths, U.S. and Afghan troops kept up pressure on insurgents in volatile Kunar province bordering Pakistan.

Pakistani soldiers also deployed on their side of the frontier to stop Taliban-led fighters fleeing across the mountains.

Coalition and Afghan forces have been trying to blunt increased Taliban attacks with a major offensive involving more than 2,500 soldiers in Kunar.

They also have been active in the south, including a weekend attack on up to 60 insurgents in a village before what authorities said was a planned strike on the Taliban's one-time stronghold, Kandahar city. Villagers complained that seven residents were killed Saturday when U.S. troops, backed by warplanes and artillery, targeted militants in Kunar.

The military said it did not know if the seven were killed by artillery or airstrikes, or caught in crossfire. U.S. authorities offered an apology to the families of the dead.

Karzai ordered Afghan security authorities to conduct their own study of the deaths in the Kunar village, and he demanded that coalition forces take more care when targeting terrorists in residential areas.

"President Karzai was angered by the deaths ... and demands the military use more restraint in future attacks against terrorists not to harm civilians," said a statement released by his office.