Kabul - A US military raid in western Afghanistan left two civilians and eight militants dead, while coalition forces killed several militants and detained 11 others elsewhere in the country, officials said Friday. Afghan and US military forces raided a house in Bakwa district of the western province of Farah on Thursday night, sparking a four-hour gunbattle that killed eight Taliban militants and two civilians, Gholam Farouq Nahimi, an army commander in western region, said.
He said that Mullah Faazel, a Taliban commander, was also among the dead militants, while two other civilians were wounded in the clash.
US-led coalition forces also confirmed the incidents, but said that six militants were killed after the militants ambushed a combined reconnaissance patrol of Afghan and coalition forces.
"Two civilians were killed and two wounded during the conduct of the insurgent ambush operation," the US military said in a statement, adding that injured civilians were evacuated to a coalition medical facility for treatment.
"A weapons cache containing an RPG, a machine gun, AK-47 rifles and an assortment of ammunition was discovered at the site," the statement said.
Local media, citing unknown local officials, said that seven civilians were killed in the clash in Bakwa, a claim Nahimi rejected.
Repeated civilian casualties during the international military operations against Taliban militants have angered the Afghan public and caused a rift with foreign forces.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Thursday his relations with international forces backing his government have been strained because of the killing of civilians by the foreign troops.
Karzai made the remarks during a visit to a village where more than 90 civilians were reported killed in a US air raid on August 22.
Meanwhile, US-led coalition forces claimed Friday that their forces killed several militants and arrested 11 other insurgents in eastern and north-eastern regions in separate operations.
The militants were killed and detained in the provinces of Khost, Paktika and Kapisa on Friday morning, the US military said in statements, which were issued from Bagram, the main US military base north of capital Kabul.
Taliban-led violence has been on the rise in recent months, as the insurgents, who lost power in US military invasion in late 2001, have stepped up their fight against Afghan and international forces mainly in southern and eastern provinces of the country.
The recent bloodshed comes a day after NATO forces confirmed that five of its soldiers, including three Canadian soldiers, were killed in separate Taliban attacks in southern Afghanistan.
More than 3,800 people - mostly insurgents - have been killed in insurgency related incidents in Afghanistan so far this year.
