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Afghanistan raid kills 3, including 2 kids

KABUL, Afghanistan — A nighttime raid in eastern Afghanistan by U.S. and Afghan troops sparked a gun battle that killed three people, including two children, and the military said Thursday it is investigating the deaths.

Civilian casualties have incited resentment and demonstrations against U.S. and NATO forces, though officials blame militants who use civilian homes as cover during clashes. President Hamid Karzai has pleaded with western forces to do all they can to prevent such deaths.

The latest civilian casualties came as U.S. and Afghan troops were raiding a compound suspected of harboring militants belonging to a suicide bombing network. They were fired upon as they approached late Wednesday in Bati Kot district in Nangarhar province, said Army Maj. Chris Belcher, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition.

After the clash, a militant and two children were found dead inside the compound, Belcher said. A woman and another child were wounded, he said.

“It is regrettable that the civilian lives were put in danger by the militants and our sincere condolences goes to the families of the deceased and wounded,” Belcher said.

In Kandahar province, hundreds of Taliban militants fled from Arghandab district, 15 miles north of Kandahar city, following three days of fighting which left more than 50 militants dead and hundreds of people displaced, provincial Gov. Asadullah Khalid said.

On Wednesday, a provincial police chief said up to 250 militants were surrounded in the area. There was no sign of militants in the village streets Thursday.

Arghandab’s villages were quiet as Khalid, accompanied by over 200 Afghan troops and Canadian soldiers, inspected houses and orchards vacated because of the fighting.

“The people are fleeing because the Taliban are taking over civilian homes,” provincial police chief Sayed Agha Saqib said Wednesday. “There have been no airstrikes. We are trying our best to attack those areas where there are no civilians, only Taliban.”

The Taliban had moved into Arghandab earlier this week after the recent death of tribal leader Mullah Naqib, who had kept Taliban fighters out of his region.

U.S. Humvees and Canadian jeeps crossed Arghandab’s countryside on patrols Wednesday alongside hundreds of Afghans fleeing the area in the middle of harvest season, leaving their pomegranate crop at prime picking time.

Zarif Khan, the head of a fleeing family of 15, said he had no place to take his relatives and may have to rent a room in Kandahar city. His family left its pomegranate crop.

“Our livelihoods depend on this pomegranate crop, but these stupid Taliban came and started fighting,” he said. “We’ve got big trouble after losing our leader.”

Associated Press writer Noor Khan contributed to this report.