NATO confirms civilian deaths in S. Afghan town, vows to conitnue night raids

The spokesman of NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) on Monday confirmed that nine civilians had been killed in an air strike throughout an operation against Taliban militants within the volatile southern Helmand province late Saturday night.

"During a fire fight with insurgents, an airstrike killed nine civilians in Now Zad district, Helmand province. We take civilian casualties very seriously and we share the concerns of the Afghan government and citizens," Brigadier-General Josef Blotz told reporters in a weekly press conference.

Nonetheless, Afghan officials insisted in the course of the air raid within the restive Helmand province, a total of 14 civilians, majority of them children had been killed.

Right after Saturday's dead of civilians, Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Sunday when again called on NATO and U.S. troops to steer clear of operations that kill civilians, saying it was his "last warning" to Washington.

When his comment sought towards President Karzai's remarks, ISAF spokesman said, "he could not make any comments because it was a high level political problem."

Nevertheless, the spokesman of over 140,000-strong NATO-led troops with almost 100,000 of them Americans said that "night raid operations were quite needed element of ongoing counter- insurgency camping against Taliban insurgents."

He created the comments following Afghan President on Saturday ordered Defense Ministry to take charge of all night raids which according to Afghan government typically cause civilian deaths.

"We do not conduct unilateral operations," Blotz emphasized.

The deaths of Afghan civilians by NATO-led troops in the course of operations against anti-government militants have lengthy been a contentious problem between the Afghan government and U.S. and NATO forces in the insurgency-hit Afghanistan.

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