Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: Afghans protest against US killings

Afghans protest against US killings  	 	
Hundreds of Afghans have held a third day of protests against the
killing of civilians by US-led coalition forces, burning an effigy of
George Bush, the US president, and chanting anti-US slogans.
 
Sayed Shafiq Fazli, police chief for the western province of Herat,
said 30 civilians had been killed in the past several days by US-led
forces.
 
Earlier US-led forces had claimed that 136 Taliban fighters were
killed in the bombing raid in Herat's Shindan district.
 
Meanwhile, Nato-led forces on Tuesday claimed to have killed scores of
Taliban in Sangin Valley in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province on
Monday.
 
Civilian casualties
 
Major Dominic Biddick, who commanded a company of British troops in
Monday's Nato-led operation, told an Associated Press reporter that 75
suspected fighters had been killed there.
 
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Speaking to locals and regional authorities, James Bays, Al Jazeera's
correspondent in Afghanistan, said only 10 deaths could immediately be
confirmed from the Nato-led raids.
 
He said: "Of the 10 we have confirmed, they say only two were Taliban
and the other eight were civilians."
 
Civilian casualties across the country have increased pressure on
Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan's president, to bring stability to the
country.
 
Underscoring the volatility, the Taliban movement on Tuesday said they
had seized control of the Rabat Singi district in Herat province.
 
The Afghan government is reported to have sent a delegation to
convince the Taliban to relinquish command of the district without
intervention by foreign troops or fighting.
 
Bays said the Afghan government is "seriously concerned" about the
reports of civilian deaths and have called on the US-led forces
repeated to use caution and restraint.
 
He said: "The real worry about the Afghan government is that every
time a civilian dies in a bombing raid, people in the area are likely
to lose support for the government and start supporting the Taliban."
 
Anti-US protests
 
Tuesday's protests were in the eastern province of Nangarhar, where up
to six civilians died on Sunday in the second reported killing of
civilians in the region by US-led coalition troops in less than two
months.
 
The protestors, mostly students, briefly blocked a main road into the
provincial capital, Jalalabad, and repeated calls for Karzai to step
down.
 
"We do not want American forces, they should go, death to America"
Nangarhar student protesting Karzai and US forces
One student, referring to Karzai's repeated calls for Western troops
to avoid civilian casualties, said: "Karzai should go. He has no power
and he can't serve us."
 
Another student chanted "We do not want American forces. They should
go. Death to America," before the protest ended peacefully under a
tight police watch.
 
A powerful tribe in the province, the Shinwar, on Monday vowed not to
allow US-led forces and foreign troops under a separate Nato command
into their district to hunt the Taliban.
 
Neighbours of the dead and Nangarhar officials said those killed in
the raid on Sunday were civilians, including three women. But the US
military said four were Taliban fighters and that the only civilian
casualties were a woman and a teenage girl killed in crossfire.
 
Herat anger   
In Herat, protests erupted over the weekend after US officials said
more than 130 Taliban had been killed in several days of ground and
air attacks.
Provincial authorities rejected the coalition figure of Taliban deaths
and dispatched a team to investigate.
"We have learnt from various sources ... that 30 civilians are among
those killed," police chief Fazli told reporters in Herat city.
The death toll of suspected Taliban killed in the raids was less than
reported by the US military, he said.
Civilian deaths are a sensitive issue for Karzai and the foreign
troops, facing an upsurge in attacks by the Taliban in what is seen as
a crunch year for both sides in the conflict.
 
Scores of civilians have died, most due to suicide bombings and other
attacks by the Taliban, but a significant number also due to action by
foreign forces.
 
More than 4,000 people, including 1,000 civilians, died last year in
the worst fighting since the Taliban were ousted in 2001.
Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

 Afghans protest against US killings
REDBROWNS, OF COURSE...