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Kabul: At least 30 people, including women and children, were killed in southern Afghanistan following US-led coalition airstrikes, an official said on Saturday.
Taliban fighters tried to ambush a joint US-Afghan military convoy in Helmand province's Gereshk district late on Friday before fleeing into a nearby village for cover, said Mohammad Hussein, the provincial police chief.
Airstrikes targeted the militants in the village of Hyderabad, said Dur Ali Shah, the mayor of Gereshk.
He said 30 to 35 people were killed or wounded but he could not provide an exact breakdown. Villagers reported much more than 30 casualties but those figures could not be verified by officials. Six houses were also destroyed during the clash, Shah said.
Civilians deaths caused by US and Nato-led troops have infuriated Afghans and prompted President Hamid Karzai to publicly condemn foreign forces for carelessness and viewing Afghan lives as "cheap."
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