The situation in Afghanistan continues to worsen. It's always bad when you end up killing civilians. It serves as great propaganda for the enemy--even if it is provoked by them.
An Afghan provincial governor said Saturday 16 civilians including women, children and doctors were killed in US-led coalition air strikes but the force insisted the dead were militants.
In other violence, gunmen killed a legislator while 10 militants were blown up by their own bomb in troubled southern Afghanistan, authorities said.
The air strikes were carried out on Friday in the remote district of Waygal in the mountainous northeast province of Nuristan, about 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the border with Pakistan.
Provincial governor Tamim Nuristani told AFP 16 civilians were killed as they were travelling out of the area after being told by security forces to leave ahead of an operation against Islamic insurgents.
"They included two women, two children and workers and shopkeepers travelling in two pick-up vehicles," Nuristani told AFP. Two doctors and a female nurse were also dead, he said.
But the coalition said Friday and again Saturday the dead were militants who were escaping after attacking an NATO-led military base in the rugged area.
A big part of the problem is Pakistan, where the Taliban go to hide and regroup without much fear of being caught.
Pakistani security forces have eased an operation against insurgents in a tribal region near the border with Afghanistan as local elders try to negotiate peace with a militant leader, a government official said Saturday.
The operation is a shift for Pakistan's government, which has sought to end militant violence through peace deals since coming to power after February elections.
That approach has faced criticism from the United States, where officials say the deals will simply give militants time to regroup and intensify attacks in neighboring Afghanistan.
The operation has also faced criticism from skeptics who say it has met with scant resistance and appears to have led to the death of only one militant. Many militants apparently fled before the operation started.
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