US bombing 'kills dozens of civilians'

Bombing runs called in by US forces killed dozens of civilians taking shelter from fighting between Taliban militants and Afghan and international troops, Afghan officials said.

The United States has promised a joint investigation.

A provincial councillor said he saw about 30 bodies, many of them women and children, after villages bought them to a provincial capital.

Overall death toll estimates varied widely. Villagers estimated from 70 to more than 100 civilians may have died, according to local and regional officials. However, no government official could confirm such a toll.

Civilian deaths have caused increasing friction between the Afghan and US governments, and President Hamid Karzai has long pleaded with American officials to reduce the number of civilian casualties in their operations.

Mr Karzai has ordered a probe into the allegations.

In a statement, Mr Karzai said Afghan and US-led Coalition officials had already left for Farah province.

Mr Karzai meets with President Barack Obama in Washington today.

In remarks at a Washington think tank yesterday, Mr Karzai alluded to the problem of civilian casualties without mentioning the bombing deaths.

He said the success of the new US war strategy depends on "making sure absolutely that Afghans don't suffer - that Afghan civilians are protected.

"This war against terrorism will succeed only if we fight it from a higher platform of morality," he added in a speech at the Brookings Institution.

Asked later what he meant by that remark, Mr Karzai said: "We must be conducting this war as better human beings," and recognise that "force won't buy you obedience".

The latest fighting broke out on Monday soon after Taliban fighters - including Taliban from Pakistan and Iran - massed in Farah province in western Afghanistan.