The American coalition in Afghanistan opened a joint US-Afghan investigation Saturday into an overnight raid that American commanders say killed 15 armed militants but that two Afghan officials say killed 11 civilians. The accusation of civilian deaths is the latest in a string of incidents over the last year that have raised the ire of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who has pleaded with foreign military forces to avoid such killings. A detailed US statement said multiple teams of militants fired on the coalition forces early Saturday during a raid against a Taleban commander in the eastern province of Laghman. The US said a woman carrying a rocket-propelled grenade was among the 15 killed. “We know the people who were killed were shooting at us,” said Col. Greg Julian, the top US spokesman in Afghanistan. “The people who were killed today were running around, maneuvering against our forces, and we killed them.” However, Sayed Ahmad Safi, the spokesman for Laghman's governor, said that government intelligence reports indicated 11 of the dead were civilians, including three children and two females. Two of the dead were militants, he said. Safi said a government delegation had traveled to the site of the operation, but that it was a rough three- hour trip from the provincial capital and that the team wasn't expected to report back until Sunday. Abdul Khaliq Hussaini, a member of parliament who represents Laghman, said he believed 16 people had been killed, including 11 civilians. The site of the raid - the village of Guloch - lies 40 miles (60 kilometers) northeast of the capital, Kabul. Julian said he had no doubts about the US version of the battle, but said a joint US-Afghan investigation had been launched to put the reports of civilian deaths to rest. “These allegations benefit the insurgency, and we want to clear them up,” he said. Civilian deaths are a hugely sensitive topic between the Afghan government and the US and NATO. Karzai last week told parliament that the US and NATO have not heeded his calls to stop airstrikes in civilian areas. Karzai has recently sought to have more control over what kinds of activities US and NATO forces can carry out. The issue also sparks strong emotions among average Afghans and threatens to turn civilians against the international military mission. “I'm ready to start jihad against the Americans,” an unidentified Afghan man told a Kabul TV station during a protest Saturday in the capital of Laghman. In a separate incident, two civilians were killed and eight wounded late Saturday when a suicide bomb ripped through a busy market in eastern Afghanistan, local officials and police said. “The attacker was on foot, walking in the local bazaar when he exploded in the middle of the crowd,” Sam Kanai district Governor Sadat said. The bombing took place in Paktia province's Sam Kanai district. No group had claimed responsibility for the attack.
