- BAGRAM, Afghanistan (Reuters)
- Provincial Afghan authorities said at least 17 civilians had been killed
in bombing raids by U.S.-led forces that Washington says are aimed at rooting
out remnants of the Taliban.
-
- Haji Mohammad Wali, spokesman for the government of Helmand
province, told Reuters an official of its Baghran district had reported
the civilian deaths there after relatives came to the district headquarters.
-
- "The people came crying, saying their relatives
had died or were missing," Wali said by telephone from Helmand's capital,
Lashkar Gah.
-
- U.S. military officials told reporters Wednesday that
B-52 and B-1 bombers had pounded a mountain ridge in central Afghanistan
after ground forces spotted about 25 armed Taliban suspects taking up offensive
positions.
-
- Twelve suspects were captured during the operation near
the village of Lejay in the Baghran Valley Tuesday, U.S. military spokesman
Colonel Roger King told a news briefing at Bagram Air Base, the U.S. headquarters
in Afghanistan.
-
- He said U.S. ground forces called in air support over
a period of eight hours after spotting men armed with AK-47s and rocket
grenades moving along the ridgeline.
-
- He said he had no information about possible civilian
deaths.
-
- Wali said the report of the civilian deaths had been
passed on to the Kabul government. He said he had no information on casualties
from fresh bombing the area Tuesday night.
-
- Haji Jilani, a resident of Shina Keli village in the
Baghran valley, told Reuters he had seen bodies of two women, two children
and a man in a riverbed from his house on a mountainside.
-
- MOSTLY WOMEN AND CHILDREN KILLED
-
- According to the reports, there were 17 deaths, mostly
women and children, he said.
-
- A spokesman for President Hamid Karzai said he did not
have any details of casualties. However, he said the government had asked
the coalition to avoid bombing during the Eid-al-Adha Muslim holiday, which
began Tuesday and runs through Thursday.
-
- "In general, the government prefers they shouldn't
bomb in respect of Eid days, unless it is very necessary," Tayab Jawad
said. "The government has asked them to avoid bombing during this
time."
-
- U.S. military spokesman King said a Danish F-16 dropped
a 500 pound GBU-12 bomb, while U.S. B-1 and B-52 bombers dropped 2,000
pound JDAM "smart" bombs during the latest raids.
-
- Asked who the opposing fighters were thought to be, King
said: "We believe that they are probably most closely associated with
Taliban remnants."
-
- About 13,000 U.S.-led coalition troops are in Afghanistan
hunting remnants of the former Taliban regime and the al Qaeda network
blamed for the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
-
- The Afghan government has said that 48 people were killed
and 117 wounded in Uruzgan province last July when a U.S. AC-130 gunship
attacked a wedding party.
-
- The U.S. military gave a toll of 34 dead and 50 wounded
-- mostly women and children -- but said the aircraft had come under hostile
ground fire.
-
- King said the operation in Baghran, code-named "Eagle
Fury" was continuing, as was another in the neighboring province of
Bamiyan.
-
- "The intensity to a certain extent depends upon
on the enemy," he said. "If the enemy presents itself in a posture
to attack us, then we will engage them."
-
-
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