Rights group: 78 Afghans killed; US to investigate

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Scores of Afghan civilians gathered in a small village for the memorial ceremony of a militia commander were killed when US and Afghan soldiers launched an attack in the middle of the night, officials and villagers said. President Hamid Karzai condemned the early Friday operation and said most of the dead were civilians. The U.S. coalition said it believed five civilians were among those killed and that it would investigate the Afghan claims. An Afghan human rights group that visited the site of the operation said Saturday that at least 78 people were killed. The Ministry of Interior has said 76 civilians died, including 50 children under the age of 15, though the Ministry of Defense said 25 militants and five civilians were killed.