Karzai visits US bombing victims

Many people were injured in the fighting

Afghan President Hamid Karzai made a rare visit to the southern province of Kandahar to visit victims of a US-led coalition bombing raid.

The US military has said it may have killed up to 80 Taleban fighters during the assault on a village in Kandahar.

But local officials said 16 civilians were also killed in Monday's attack and women and children injured.

The US military has defended its action saying it did not know that civilians were present.

It also blamed the Taleban for using the civilians as human shields.

It must be ensured that civilians are not affected during the operations President Hamid Karzai

President Karzai addressed a gathering of tribal elders in Kandahar saying he had come to visit children and women wounded in the coalition strike.

"I swear to God I'll bring security to you," the AFP news agency quoted him as saying.

Concern

On Wednesday, President Karzai summoned the commander of the coalition forces, Lt Gen Karl Eikenberry, for a meeting over the incident.

He said every effort must be made to ensure the safety of civilians during coalition action against militants.

"While the people of Afghanistan stand firmly with the international community in their effort to defeat terrorism... it must be ensured that civilians are not affected during the operations," he said.

There has been a dramatic upsurge in fighting in southern Afghanistan over the past week.

Officials estimate more than 200 rebels have been killed in the region since last Wednesday, in some of the fiercest fighting since the fall of the Taleban in late 2001.

In another clash in Uruzgan on Wednesday, US officials said 24 militants and five Afghan security personnel had been killed.

The Afghan commander in the south however said up to 60 Taleban militants had been killed.