U.S.-led air strike kills seven Afghan children

By Sayed Salahuddin

KABUL (Reuters) - At least seven children were killed in a U.S.-led coalition air strike on a religious school in Afghanistan, the coalition said on Monday, amid rising anger over civilian deaths from foreign military operations.

Up to 60 civilians have been killed in the past three days in the southern Uruzgan province alone, a senior provincial official said.

Some 50 Taliban and Afghan forces were also killed in the battles in Chora district of the rugged province, the head of the provincial council, Mawlavi Hamdullah, told Reuters.

A NATO spokesman in Kabul, Major John Thomas, said he knew that a large number of "insurgents" were killed in the battle in the district but said he was aware of only 11 civilians being wounded.

Earlier on Monday, the U.S.-led coalition force apologized for the deaths of the children at a madrasa in southeastern Paktia province at the weekend but said they had no idea children were present when the premises were attacked.

"We are truly sorry for the innocent lives lost in this attack," said Army Major Chris Belcher, a coalition spokesman, in a statement. "We had surveillance on the compound all day and saw no indications there were children inside the building."

The statement said children who survived Sunday's raid said insurgents had forced pupils to stay inside the madrasa. The White House accused the Taliban of using human shields.

In Washington, White House spokesman Tony Snow said: "Obviously any time innocents are killed it is something that is a tragedy and certainly we grieve for those who are lost.

"We also understand that ... the Taliban and other terrorists try to transform innocents into human shields."

There was no independent verification of the attack.

The air strike on the school occurred on the same day a suspected suicide bomber killed more than 20 people in an attack on a police bus in the heart of Kabul.

"PROLONGED BATTLE"

Other violence around the country made Sunday one of the bloodiest days since the Taliban were driven from power in 2001.

The U.S.-led and Afghan forces killed several dozen insurgents in a "prolonged battle" in the southern province of Helmand that day, the U.S. military said on Monday.

Also on Sunday, in a separate incident, three coalition soldiers and their Afghan interpreter were killed after a roadside bomb hit their vehicle near Kandahar in the south.