Afghan villagers mourn deaths

LAY KUNDI, Afghanistan -- Abdul Aye said his brothers, uncles, nieces, and nephews were buried when a NATO airstrike collapsed the thick, dried-mud walls of their village home.

Twenty-two members of the extended family died, he said, and were among those interred in a mass grave in the village of Mirwisa Mina and mourned yesterday by hundreds at a funeral in Kandahar city.

Aye spoke through his tears, then had to turn away. "Everyone is very angry at the government and the coalition. There was no Taliban," he said softly. "These tragedies just keep continuing."

Dozens of villagers were killed in NATO military strikes against suspected Taliban in the militants' former southern stronghold Tuesday, Afghan officials said. The civilian deaths -- estimated by Afghan officials at between 30 and 85, including many women and children -- are among the highest in any foreign military action here since the fall of the Taliban and could turn residents against the counterinsurgency campaign.

NATO said a preliminary review found that 12 civilians were killed in three clashes in the Panjwayi district of Kandahar province, the Taliban's former southern stronghold. But the alliance could not say if they had died because of Taliban or NATO action.

Major Luke Knittig, a spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force, said up to 70 militants may have been killed. The fighting took place in or around the villages of Lay Kundi and Mirwisa Mina.

Knittig said Taliban fighters attacked NATO forces, and that return artillery fire and airstrikes were aimed at militants.

Bismallah Afghanmal, a provincial council member, said fighters fled into civilian homes, which were then attacked by NATO forces.

"With insurgents who regard the population as a form of human shield for themselves it obviously makes life very difficult for us, but it does not stop us from making every effort to ensure that we minimize any problems," said Mark Laity, a NATO spokesman.

But villagers and local government officials denounced NATO and blamed the government for a lack of security.

"The people are not forgetting the deaths of their children after a simple 'sorry,' " Afghanmal said.

Despite Afghanmal's remarks that the fighters had run into civilian homes, villagers insisted there were no Taliban in their midst.

Death tolls in remote military action in Afghanistan are difficult to pin down, and estimates often vary widely. Also in question is who can be considered a civilian and who is a fighter.