US-led raid kills six civilians, Afghan official says

AFGHANISTAN: An operation by US-led forces in Afghanistan Wednesday left six civilians dead, a provincial official said, but the force confirmed only that two civilians and several rebels were killed.

Two children, a woman and three men all members of the same family were killed in the pre-dawn strike in the eastern province of Khost, provincial government spokesman Khaiber Pashtun said.

The US-led coalition confirmed an operation to "disrupt militant activities" and said a woman and a boy were killed, along with several insurgents.

The troops had come under fire while searching for rebels suspected of carrying out bombings and supplying weapons to others, the coalition said in a statement. "Several armed militants were killed when they fired on coalition forces during the search. Coalition forces returned fire," it said.

"Coalition forces discovered a dead woman during a post-hostilities assessment in a building where one of the barricaded militants fired on coalition forces," it said. A dead child was found in a second compound, it added. Two suspects were detained. Witnesses told AFP the children were boys aged seven and 10. Their father and mother were among the dead. Another woman was wounded, Pashtun told AFP.

People in the area, the Nadir Shah Kot district, shouted slogans against the United States after the incident, a man claiming to be a resident told AFP over the telephone. Khost, Wednesday, AFP