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NATO forces kill 110 Taliban

Women and children are among 25 civilians killed in one coalition airstrike, an Afghan official says.

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published June 23, 2007

KABUL, Afghanistan - NATO forces killed about 110 Taliban in three battles in Afghanistan, including about 60 insurgents killed along the border with Pakistan, NATO officials said Saturday.

NATO's International Security Assistance Force said a group of Taliban attempted to attack Afghan and ISAF forces Friday in the Bermel district of Paktika province, near the Pakistan border. The Taliban fired on aircraft, and NATO and U.S.-led coalition forces returned fire, killing 60 of them.

In a separate battle in Kandahar province, Afghan and coalition soldiers killed nearly 20 enemy fighters during a seven-hour firefight, a coalition statement said.

Meanwhile, Helmand province police Chief Mohammed Hussein Andiwal said at least 25 civilians, including nine women, three babies and an elderly village mullah, were killed in an airstrike early Friday morning when they were caught in a battle between Taliban and NATO forces in southern Afghanistan.

A NATO spokesman, Lt. Col. Mike Smith, said in a written statement that about 30 Taliban were killed in the airstrike, and blamed the civilian deaths on the Taliban: "In choosing to conduct such attacks in this location at this time, the risk to civilians was probably deliberate. It is this irresponsible action that may have led to casualties."

Afghans are angry with the Taliban, whose terrorizing tactics include suicide attacks and concealed roadside bombs. But they are also upset by what they see as the sometimes-indiscriminate death toll of allied bombs and rockets.

Earlier this week, a coalition of Afghan and international relief agencies such as CARE, Save the Children and Mercy Corps criticized the coalition, saying that hasty military action has led to at least 230 civilian deaths in 2007.

Information from the Associated Press and the New York Times was used in this report.

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[Last modified June 23, 2007, 00:16:42]