U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan have apologized for killing seven children in airstrikes on a compound where they thought al-Qaida militants were hiding.
A coalition statement on Monday noted its intelligence showed that insurgents were at the complex in the eastern province of Paktika Sunday. It said surveillance of the compound, which included a mosque and a religious school, gave no indication children were there.
The statement noted that some surviving children said the militants prevented them from leaving the compound, using them as a human shield.
The U.N. says it has sent a team to Paktika to investigate the incident.
Meanwhile, local Afghan officials said up to 60 civilians and more than 50 Taleban insurgents have been killed during fierce fighting over three days in southern Uruzgan province. NATO officials did not confirm those figures. But officials in the Netherlands on Monday said at least one Dutch soldier had been killed in the fighting.
In a separate incident in Kabul, authorities said they detained a man on Monday in connection with the bombing Sunday of a police bus that killed at least 35 people.
The Taleban have claimed responsibility for the Kabul bombing.
President Hamid Karzai condemned that attack, calling it an attempt to block the training of Afghanistan's security forces. In Washington, White House spokesman Tony Snow said the attack indicates terrorists are still active and are willing to take innocent lives.
Afghan officials said the bus was carrying police instructors when it exploded near a police station in a crowded section of Kabul. Most of the dead were policemen. Officials said 52 other people were wounded.
A coalition statement on Monday noted its intelligence showed that insurgents were at the complex in the eastern province of Paktika Sunday. It said surveillance of the compound, which included a mosque and a religious school, gave no indication children were there.
The statement noted that some surviving children said the militants prevented them from leaving the compound, using them as a human shield.
The U.N. says it has sent a team to Paktika to investigate the incident.
Meanwhile, local Afghan officials said up to 60 civilians and more than 50 Taleban insurgents have been killed during fierce fighting over three days in southern Uruzgan province. NATO officials did not confirm those figures. But officials in the Netherlands on Monday said at least one Dutch soldier had been killed in the fighting.
In a separate incident in Kabul, authorities said they detained a man on Monday in connection with the bombing Sunday of a police bus that killed at least 35 people.
The Taleban have claimed responsibility for the Kabul bombing.
President Hamid Karzai condemned that attack, calling it an attempt to block the training of Afghanistan's security forces. In Washington, White House spokesman Tony Snow said the attack indicates terrorists are still active and are willing to take innocent lives.
Afghan officials said the bus was carrying police instructors when it exploded near a police station in a crowded section of Kabul. Most of the dead were policemen. Officials said 52 other people were wounded.