Claims of Afghan civilian deaths spark protest

NATO forces rejected the claim, saying they had killed several suspected insurgents and detained a local Taliban commander in the overnight raid.

The gulf between the two accounts is a reminder of how sensitive every NATO operation in Afghanistan has become. In Taliban-heavy areas it is hard to distinguish villagers from insurgents and sometimes public opinion turns against coalition forces even when they say they are certain they targeted the correct people.

And while NATO has drastically reduced the civilian deaths it causes, the military coalition still makes mistakes. During a clash in southern Helmand province Wednesday, coalition forces mistakenly killed an Afghan woman as they fired back at insurgents, NATO said in a statement.

In the first six months of this year, 386 civilians were killed by NATO or Afghan government forces, including 41 during search-and-seizure operations such as night raids, according to the United Nations.

The Taliban issued a statement decrying the U.N. report, which said insurgent groups were responsible for 76 percent of civilian deaths and injuries in the first half of 2010.

The U.N. "plays a major role as a propaganda organization for the American imperialism and keeps covering up the blatant crimes of the Pentagon," the group said in an e-mail to The Associated Press.