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Last Modified: 20 Jun 2007
Source: PA News

US slammed over Afghan casualties

At least 230 Afghan civilians have been killed in airstrikes and botched raids by US and Nato troops this year, eroding goodwill towards foreign forces since the fall of the Taliban five years ago, aid agencies said.

The statement by an umbrella group for aid agencies follows reports of dozens of civilian deaths in recent days during fierce clashes sparked by a Taliban offensive in a key southern province, where insurgents pushed police out and took control of a neighbouring district in Kandahar province.

The spike in non-combatant casualties in the past few days - whether caused by foreign forces or the Taliban - has raised public ire towards President Hamid Karzai's government and the foreign soldiers sent to prop it up.