KABUL: As concern mounts about increasing civilian casualties in bloody battles between coalition troops and Taliban fighters in southern Afghanistan, a team of parliamentarians is preparing for an on-the-spot probe of non-combatant deaths in Panjwayi district.

About 90 civilians were killed in two International Security Assistance (ISAF) air strikes last week in Kandahar province, residents said. However, ISAF spokesman Major Luke Knittig of the United States army told the press "we killed 38 insurgents through very careful targeting of specific insurgent groups trying to infiltrate back into Zhari and Panjwayi."

The alliance said its initial reports found that 12 civilians were killed, but Afghan officials estimated the number of civilians killed at between 30 and 80, including many women and children.

The district, about 35 km west of Kandahar city, witnessed nearly two weeks of intense fighting during Operation Medusa, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato)-led coalition's largest offensive against the Taliban. The former rulers of Afghanistan have regrouped in the Pashtun-dominated southern provinces to challenge Kabul's authority.

Ahmadullah, resident of Zangawad village, told Pajhwok Afghan News on Oct. 25 that 50 houses of civilians were destroyed in the bombing. He said villagers had retrieved 30 dead bodies from the rubble, while some corpses were still buried.

Per Agha, who has shifted three injured family members to Kandahar Civil Hospital, said in an interview that some of his relatives were missing and perhaps were buried in the debris of their houses.

On Oct. 30, Afghanistan's lower house of parliament, Wolesi Jirga, nominated seven members to visit Panjwayi and submit a report on the civilian deaths. All seven are members of the internal security and complaints commission of parliament.

According to Pacha Khan Zadran, a member of parliament (MP) from the southeastern Paktika province, civilians were dying in the fighting because of the lack of coordination between the Nato-led foreign troops and Afghan security forces.

He was echoing Afghan President Hamid Karzai who told reporters on Oct 27: "Where Afghan forces have control, losses there are less, coordination is better in such areas. Our directives and views are respected there." He urged the international community to strengthen Afghan forces. "Terrorism cannot be eliminated with military operations in Afghanistan villages. The root of terrorism is not in Afghanistan," he asserted.

Karzai has appointed a commission led by a former jihadi leader Mulla Naqibullah Akhunzada to investigate the Kandahar killings. "We want to know whether Taliban have attacked here, and have taken benefit from the public houses or not," he said.

Last week in Washington, Nato Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer discussed with US President George W. Bush how the Taliban have begun using Afghan civilians as human shield, according to the Nato website.

Some members of the Wolesi Jirga and the upper house of parliament pinned the blame on Kandahar governor Asadullah Khalid. The local government was responsible for the safety of civilians in the war zone, and could hold ISAF accountable, they said. A female MP, Noorzia Atmar, said Karzai should not have conferred on Oct. 29, the national Ghazi Amanullah Khan medal on US general James L. Jones who is Nato's supreme allied commander of Europe.

Addressing a press conference at Bagram airbase soon after, Jones had expressed sadness over the recent civilian killings in the south. War was not a solution, he had added. Nato's priority was to bring security and stability to Afghanistan through reconstruction efforts, he said.

Human rights groups and the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) have condemned the civilian deaths and called on the alliance to prevent civilian suffering. A press statement from UNAMA reiterated that civilian casualties were unacceptable, without exception.

Sam Zarifi, Asia Research Director of the New York-based Human Rights Watch, said in a statement that Nato tactics were increasingly endangering civilian lives and creating hatred among the local population against the alliance.

Criticising Nato, the statement said the recent operations had resulted in the killing of dozens of civilians. The group also slammed Taliban for using populated areas to launch attacks on Nato and Afghan forces.

Zarifi said Nato forces were not doing enough to minimise civilian casualties. "NATO's tactics are increasingly endangering civilians they are supposed to be protecting and turning the local population against them."

In a separate statement, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has urged "all parties to the conflict" to respect the rules of international humanitarian law (IHL). "All parties to the conflict must at all times take all feasible precautions to spare civilians and their property from the effects of attacks," says the ICRC statement.

It says hostilities in Afghanistan have intensified over the past few months putting the lives of civilians in danger. Civilian casualties from roadside bombs, suicide attacks, bombardments and ground offensives have significantly increased, which is of serious concern, says the release.—Dawn/IPS News Service