U.S. military: Afghan civilian toll was 5 to 7

KABUL, Afghanistan — A U.S. military investigation concluded Tuesday only five to seven civilians and 30 to 35 Taliban were killed in an airstrike operation in western Afghanistan last week, far lower than the figure of 90 civilians that Afghan and United Nations found in their preliminary investigations.

The U.S. military investigation comes ahead of a joint investigation the military has agreed to conduct with the United Nations and the Afghan government to try to reconcile the vastly differing accounts of what happened and how many people died.

A review of video, photos and an analysis of burial sites after the strike in Azizabad village in Herat province Aug. 22 found that 30 to 35 Taliban insurgents and five civilian relatives of a Taliban commander died in the attack, according to a summary of the findings released Tuesday. Two other civilians were injured, it said.

Interviews further reinforced U.S. claims that casualties were considerably lower than those suggested by eyewitnesses, the summary said.

President Hamid Karzai condemned the operation at the time and dismissed two Afghan commanders for what he called dereliction of duty and concealing the truth, after a government delegation to the area had concluded that large numbers of women and children died in the airstrike operation.

The U.N. special representative in Afghanistan also expressed grave concern at the civilian casualties and said a human-rights team had found convincing evidence that 90 people had been killed, 60 of them children.

The competing claims illustrate the difficulty of determining how many civilians fall victim in a war fought in distant mountains and densely populated villages.

U.S. officials say they face significant challenges both in identifying Taliban fighters, who mix easily with the general population, and because of incentives to falsely claim civilian casualties.

"The enemy knowingly hides behind women and children; they dress in burqas," Maj. Gen. Jeffery Schloesser said Monday. "The enemy makes it extraordinarily difficult to avoid civilian casualties. We don't even know it [civilian casualties occurred] until the fighting is over."

In addition, the United States has long said Taliban rebels pressure Afghan villagers to falsely claim civilian casualties, which could seriously damage the reputations of the U.S., NATO and the Western-backed Afghan government.

In Azizabad and other small villages where civilians are reported killed in combat, the Afghan government and international militaries pay about $2,000 for each person killed, giving villagers incentive to file false claims.

15 reported killed

in Pakistan strike

At least 15 people, including women and children, were killed in an attack involving U.S.-led forces in a remote Pakistani village near the border with Afghanistan, intelligence officials and a witness said Wednesday.

The U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan said it had no report of such an incursion, said to have happened in the militant-infested South Waziristan tribal region. Pakistan's army confirmed an attack but did not specify if it believed foreign troops were involved.

Habib Khan Wazir, an area resident, said the incident happened shortly after an American helicopter landed in the village of Musa Nikow. He said as the owner of a home nearby came outside with his wife, the "American and Afghan soldiers starting firing."

Khan said later the troops entered the house and killed seven other people, including women and children. He said the troops also killed six other residents.

Two local intelligence officials confirmed the account on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to media. One official said 19 people died.

Compiled from The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Associated Press