US-led Forces Admit Civilian Casualties in Afghan Fighting

US-led forces in Afghanistan have conceded that a major battle in the south of the country caused some civilian casualties, but refused to confirm local reports that up to 40 people had died.

The statement came as US and Afghan forces waged further battles against suspected Taliban fighters in the Sangin region of Helmand province, as part of a major late-spring offensive also involving thousands of British troops.

A statement from international forces officials said a 16-hour battle between US troops and militants wounded at least 20 Afghan civilians, among them a child who later died of its wounds.

"There are confirmed reports of civilian casualties, but it was unclear how many," the statement said. "A joint Afghan and coalition force inquiry is being conducted."

Local people around the village of Soro, where the battle took place on Tuesday, said up to 40 civilians died when coalition planes made bombing raids, with 12 people dying in a single home. The governor of Helmand province put the death toll at 21.

General Dan McNeill, the top Nato commander in Afghanistan, said it was possible that some civilian casualties were caused because Taliban forces had fired on troops from inside civilian homes.

The air strike was called in after US special forces came under attack from "a far superior force", Gen McNeill told US National Public Radio.

"And eventually the only way they were going (to) get out of it ... was to use air strikes," he said.

It is the third major incident in recent months of civilians being killed by coalition military action, a record that led Afghanistan's president, Hamid Karzai, to urge commanders to try harder to prevent such casualties.

In March, US Marines fired on civilians after a suicide attack in eastern Afghanistan, killing 19 civilians and wounding 50. Late last month, air strikes and fighting killed around 50 civilians in the western province of Herat, according to Afghan and UN officials.

Earlier this week, a group of Afghan MPs called for an end to the current military offensive and demanded talks be held with native Taliban forces, as distinct from foreign militants.

Further air strikes last night in the Sangin area killed an estimated 10 Taliban fighters after militants ambushed a US patrol, the local district chief, Eizatullah Khan, said.