Karzai anger over civilian deaths

Investigators said women and children were among those killed in Herat province. More civilians deaths were reported in Kandahar province.

President Karzai summoned foreign military commanders to tell them his people's patience was wearing thin.

US-led forces said they killed 136 Taleban and knew of no civilian deaths.

Western forces have been accused of carelessness over civilian lives when attacking Taleban fighters.

The death of civilians has been a major issue in Afghanistan, with Nato saying in January that its biggest mistake in 2006 had been the killing of innocent people. It promised to do better.

Correspondents say most civilian deaths in Afghanistan are the result of suicide bombings and other attacks by the Taleban.

'Credible reports'

Confirmation of the worst civilian casualties in the country for months emerged on Wednesday after provincial investigators and a United Nations team visited Shindand district, scene of the clashes over the weekend.

The fighting was some of the bloodiest seen in the hitherto relatively quiet province, with the US-led coalition saying it had used land and air strikes to target militants.

It said it had no reports of any civilian casualties and had taken "every precaution to prevent injury to innocent Afghan civilians".

But Afghan police who visited the area found that 51 civilians had been killed in the fighting, Herat provincial spokesman Akramudin Yawar said.

"The figures I have so far of the civilians killed in the three-day operation in Shindand is that 51 civilians were killed, including 18 women and a number of children.

"I don't have the exact figures for children," Mr Yawar told the AFP news agency.

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