Afghan President Hamid Karzai has accused NATO and U.S.-led forces of carelessly killing 90 civilians in airstrikes and artillery fire against Taleban militants over the last 10 days.
Mr. Karzai called for better coordination between foreign forces and Afghan authorities, saying NATO must work better with Afghan authorities if it wants to succeed in the war against terror and wants a secure Afghanistan.
Earlier Saturday, in neighboring Pakistan, the army said a rocket hit a house in a border tribal area, killing nine civilians.
At the time, NATO forces in Afghanistan were conducting ground and air operations against suspected Taleban near the tribal region. International security forces said they killed as many as 60 Taleban fighters in the overnight attacks.
In other news, Estonia's military says two Estonian soldiers were killed and four others wounded in a rocket attack in southern Helmand province. Another coalition soldier was killed and two others wounded in clashes with insurgents in the same province.
A coalition of Afghan and Western aid agencies says 230 civilians have been killed this year, in the crossfire between insurgents and international military forces in Afghanistan.
On Friday, NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer called for an investigation into civilian deaths in southern Afghanistan following an allied airstrike. But he put the blame on the Taleban, saying it uses civilians as human shields.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and AP.
