US admits Afghan civilian deaths

Far more civilians and children were killed in several US air raids on a village in Afghanistan in August that was first acknowledged, a US military investigation has concluded.

US officials had maintained only about seven civilians had died in the attacks on Azizabad in western Afghanistan on August 22.

The Afghan government and UN officials said at the time about 90 had been killed.

"Our investigation determined approximately 55 persons were
killed - 33 civilian and 22 anti-coalition militants"  a summary of an investigation by US brigadier general Michael Callan, released on Wednesday, disclosed.

Videos showed the bodies of 12 children, three women and eight men were laid out for burial in the village mosque the day after the fighting, the report said.

The incident brought angry recriminations from Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, and added to fears that support for the US military in Afghanistan was being further undermined by repeated cases of civilian casualties at the hands of US-led forces.

'Self defence'

But the Callan report defended the actions of the US and Afghan
forces involved in the incident as "necessary and proportional ... self-defence ... based on the information the on-scene commander had at