Civilians killed in Afghan clash

Four women and a child have been accidentally killed by US-led coalition troops during a gun battle with militants in eastern Afghanistan.

The coalition said its troops "inadvertently" killed the civilians in Ghazni province after they were "threatened" by militants.

This is the third incident of foreign troops killing Afghan civilians in the past 12 days.

The deaths of civilians is a sensitive issue in Afghanistan.

"As coalition forces approached a compound, they were threatened by several armed militants," the coalition said in a statement.

"The force responded with small-arms fire, killing the militants and inadvertently killing four women and a child located with them."

Three militants were also detained in the incident in Ghazni's Giro district, 100 km (60 miles) south of the Afghan capital, Kabul.

A spokeswoman said the coalition regretted the death of the civilians and that a "full and thorough" investigation into the incident would be conducted.

In a separate incident, agencies reported that a member of the coalition forces was killed by a roadside bomb in western Afghanistan.

Karzai plea

There has been increasing criticism in Afghanistan of civilian casualties in military operations by the international forces.

The Reuters news agency reports that around 2,500 people, including 1,000 civilians, have been killed so far this year in fighting between insurgents and foreign and Afghan forces.

On 27 July, two children died after Canadian troops fired on a car that came close to a patrol in Kandahar province.

The day before, four civilians were killed in neighbouring Helmand province when British soldiers opened fire on a car that failed to stop at a checkpoint.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has urged the US and Nato to try harder to avoid killing civilians, which is undermining already tenuous support for his government.

But international forces point out that militants often hide in heavily populated areas.