Afghanistan Coalition Says 4 Women, Child Killed ini Offensive Against Militants
By VOA News
08 August 2008
U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan say Friday they killed four women and a child while battling militants in central Afghanistan.
A U.S. military spokeswoman, Lieutenant Colonel Rumi Nelson-Green, says the civilians were killed Thursday as troops moved in on a key Taliban militant in the Giro district of central Ghazni province.
She says armed militants threatened coalition forces, which responded with small-arms fire, killing several Taliban as well as the women and the child. Three militants were arrested.
The U.S. military called the deaths "inadvertent" and promised a full investigation.
About 2,500 people, including civilians, have been killed so far this year during fighting between coalition forces and militants.
Meanwhile, officials say a coalition soldier died Friday in western Afghanistan when his convoy was hit by a bomb.
More than 500 U.S. troops have been killed in Afghanistan since 2001, when the U.S. military helped oust the Taliban-led government.
U.S. military officials said this week that the number of roadside bombings in Afghanistan recently hit a four-year high.
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