U.S. air strike kills Afghan boy among a dozen dead

By Sharafuddin Sharafyar

HERAT, Afghanistan (Reuters) - U.S. forces killed at least one child, video footage obtained by Reuters on Wednesday showed, in an air strike in western Afghanistan that police say killed 12 civilians and U.S. forces said killed 16 militants.

Video taken in the Gozara district of Herat province in the aftermath of the attack on Monday showed mangled, unrecognizable clumps of flesh -- all that remained of several people and dozens of animals killed in a tented nomad encampment. One body that was recognizable was that of a young boy.

"The information we have is 12 civilians, including six women, four men and two children have been killed in the bombardment," General Ikramuddin Yawar, chief of police in western Afghanistan told Reuters.

The Afghan Defense Ministry said "seven terrorists" were among "several civilians" killed in the strike.

"Unfortunately, we have to say the terrorists hide themselves among the civilian population and use civilian homes as hideouts and that such actions cause civilian deaths," the ministry said in a statement.

More than 2,100 civilians were killed in Afghanistan last year, 40 percent more than 2007, the United Nations said on Tuesday, and a quarter of all civilian casualties, 552 people, died as a result of air strikes by U.S. and NATO-led forces.

News of the attack comes as U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday ordered 17,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan to try to break the stalemate against Taliban insurgents fighting to overthrow Afghan President Hamid Karzai's Western-backed government and drive out foreign forces.

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