Report blames Taliban for deaths

A joint U.S.-Afghan investigation confirmed that an unspecified number of civilians were killed in a southern Afghan battle, but the initial findings released Saturday appeared to blame Taliban militants who allegedly used villagers as “human shields.”

Officials in Farah province say dozens of civilians were killed in U.S. airstrikes. The U.S.-Afghan joint statement Saturday said troops called in airstrikes on militant positions during heavy fighting in two villages in Farah Monday and Tuesday. It said U.S. forces had responded to a call for help from Afghan forces, and that militants attacked the troops from several locations.

“The investigation suggests that villagers had taken refuge in a number of houses in each village. Reports also indicate that Taliban fighters deliberately forced villagers into houses from which they then attacked” the troops, the statement said.

Neither the U.S. military nor Afghan forces took responsibility for the civilian deaths in Saturday’s statement.

“The joint investigation team strongly condemns the brutality of the Taliban extremists deliberately targeting Afghan civilians and using them as human shields,” it said. It also said it was not clear how many Taliban fighters were among the dead.

Abdul Basir Khan, a Farah provincial council member, said he had collected the names of 147 people killed in Bala Baluk district. Other Afghan officials have said dozens of civilians died. But a U.S. spokeswoman has said such reports are exaggerated.

The U.S.-Afghan team of investigators visited the villages last week and saw two mass graves and one burial site with seven individual graves, the joint statement said.