Afghan citizens in the eastern Laghman province staged a shocking demonstration on Tuesday condemning NATO for killing civilians during a military operation near the provincial administrative center, local television reported.
The state-run Bakhtar news agency said hundreds of people, carrying the bodies of those killed, gathered on Tuesday in front of the governor's residence, demanding local authorities bring those guilty of the deaths to trial.
Provincial administration officials were quoted by the Tolo TV channel as saying NATO troops held the special operation near the city of Mehtar Lam on Monday, killing at least 12 civilians, including several women.
Tolo said Afghani soldiers did not take part in the operation.
The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and a separate U.S.-led coalition, involved in Operation Enduring Freedom, have a total of 112,000 troops in Afghanistan. ISAF has 71,000 troops, about a half of which is contributed by the United States.
Violence has surged in Afghanistan in recent months, with the radical Islamic Taliban group, which was toppled in a 2001 US-led campaign, staging regular attacks on provincial government officials, police and civilians and planting roadside devices as part of the battle with US and NATO troops.
U.S. President Barack Obama said in a televised address to the nation last week that the U.S. would send an additional 30,000 troops to Afghanistan in the first part of 2010 to defeat the Taliban and establish law and order.
Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Friday NATO members are also ready to send 7,000 additional troops to Afghanistan.
KABUL, December 8 (RIA Novosti)
