Afghans protest civilian deaths in firefight
* Locals say they're victimised by government, Taliban alike
* Deputy governor says some locals collude with insurgents
* 27 insurgents killed in latest fighting
(Adds latest fighting, paras 11-16)
By Sharafuddin Sharafyar
HERAT, Afghanistan, June 1 (Reuters) - Dozens of people in northwestern Afghanistan protested on Monday against civilian deaths in fighting between government forces and insurgents, but local authorities blamed elders for helping a Taliban ambush.
Residents of Bala Murghab district of Badghis province said six civilians, including women and children, were killed during a firefight between Afghan and Taliban forces.
The deputy governor said only two civilians died, but added that local collusion with the insurgents made it hard for security forces to avoid innocent deaths during firefights.
"We know that two people including a woman were killed," said deputy governor Abdul Ghani Saberi.
"We ask the people not to shelter the Taliban," he added.
Saberi said in a typical example of deceit earlier this week, local elders invited the government to attend peace talks, but when a team arrived, they were led into an ambush that ended with the death of nine soldiers and some 30 insurgents.
Local residents say they are not colluding with the Taliban for ideological reasons, just trapped between two sides and trying to survive in a warzone.
"The government arrest and beat shopkeepers for selling groceries to the Taliban, but we are victimised by both sides," shopkeeper Haji Mohammad Shah told Reuters. He said shops were shuttered as locals protested against the latest deaths.
OUTRAGE MOUNTS
The rising civilian death toll from operations to fight the Taliban insurgency has become a politically explosive issue, eroding support for the government of President Hamid Karzai and his foreign backers.
Some 2,000 civilians were killed last year in violence related to the insurgency, the U.N. and aid agencies say. Public anger rose again last month when U.S. airstrikes hit homes full of women and children. Karzai said 140 civilians died.
In the latest fighting around the country, at least 27 insurgents were killed by Afghan and foreign forces.
In Western Farah province, Afghan and U.S. forces killed two Taliban commanders and eight fighters, when they attacked a convoy on a reconnaissance patrol.
Two insurgent commanders were killed in Farah when they approached a convoy on a motorcycle, armed with an assault rifle, machine gun and rocket propelled grenade launcher, U.S. forces said.
Afghan troops backed by foreign air strikes also killed nine Taliban insurgents in two districts of southwestern Ghazni province on Sunday, U.S. forces and a provincial chief said.
In Wardak province, west of Kabul, Afghan and U.S. forces killed four militants and detained two suspected militants during an operation to capture a Taliban commander, the U.S. military said in a statement.
In southern Uruzgan province, Afghan police killed two militants when they attacked police checkpoints from the area around a nearby village, U.S. forces said. (Writing by Hamid Shalizi; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
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