US troops kill 4 Afghan women, child and militants

KABUL, Aug 8 (Reuters) - U.S.-led coalition forces accidentally killed four Afghan women and a child along with several militants during an operation targeting a Taliban insurgent, a U.S. military statement said on Friday.

Around 2,500 people, including 1,000 civilians, have been killed so far this year in fighting between Taliban insurgents and foreign and Afghan government forces, according to aid agencies.

The latest deaths occurred on Thursday, when coalition forces were threatened by "several armed militants" as they approached a compound where they believed a Taliban militant known to coordinate foreign fighters was located.

"The force responded with small-arms fire, killing the militants and inadvertently killing four women and a child located with them," said the statement received on Friday.

"Several militants were killed and three were detained," it added.

The clash occurred in the Giro district of Ghazni province, southwest of Kabul. In Helmand province's Nahr Surkh district, a joint Afghan and coalition patrol killed four Taliban insurgents caught placing a roadside bomb on Thursday, the military said.

A member of the coalition forces was killed by a roadside bomb in western Afghanistan on Friday. (Reporting by Hamid Shalizi; Editing by Paul Tait)