U.S. admits civilian deaths in Afghan airstrikes

Last week's U.S. airstrike in Afghanistan killed 17 villagers, including women and children, a provincial governor said Monday. The U.S. military confirmed some civilians were killed in the attack on what it said was a "known rebel compound".

The bombing occurred in the Kunar province last Friday, three days after an elite U.S. military team disappeared in the mountainous area.

"Seventeen civilians were killed during the bombing, including women and children," Kunar Gov. Asadullah Wafa said after leaving a mosque in the capital, Kabul. He did not say whether any rebels also were believed to be in the compound.

The U.S. military confirmed civilians were killed but didn't say how many.

The attack was "with precision-guided munitions that resulted in the deaths of an unknown number of (rebels) and 'noncombatants'," the military said in a statement.

The statement went on to state that U.S. forces "regret the loss of innocent lives and follow stringent rules of engagement specifically to ensure that noncombatants are safeguarded. However, when enemy forces move their families into the locations where they conduct…operations, they put these innocent civilians at risk."

But according to one media source, it's possible that the decision was taken to go ahead despite the likely risk of civilian casualties.

So far more than 500 people, most of them suspected rebels, are now estimated to have lost their lives in bloodshed in the south and east in the past three months.

Violence has been escalating in Afghanistan ahead of parliamentary elections due in September.

A high-ranking Afghan security official in the province, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there had been two separate bombing runs on Chechal village.

He said 25 people had been killed.

Villagers who went to help those killed and injured in the first raid were hit by the second strike, he said.

New offensive

An Afghan official told the BBC U.S. planes started fresh raids on Sunday in the Nangalam valley in the province.

The unnamed official added that Afghan troops on the ground were facing serious resistance.

However a spokesman at the U.S. military headquarters at Bagram near Kabul said he had no information about the operation.