(Adds Taliban casualties in paragraph 9) HERAT, Afghanistan, Feb 4 (Reuters) - An air strike targeting a Taliban commander has killed seven civilians from one family in southwestern Afghanistan, provincial officials said on Monday. The issue of civilian casualties is highly sensitive in Afghanistan, as it saps support for the government and the presence of foreign troops. Afghan leaders have repeatedly called on international forces to exercise more care when choosing targets. The air strike took place in the Bakwa district of Farah province late on Sunday and killed one woman, two children and four men, officials said. "Mullah Malang, a Taliban commander in the district, was the target, but he was not among the casualties," provincial police chief General Khialbaz Sherzai said. A provincial official, who declined to be named, said the civilians killed were family members of the Taliban commander. Both the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan said they had no immediate information on the air strike. A total of 1,977 civilians were killed in 2007 in fighting in Afghanistan, including nearly 240 who lost their lives in air strikes by foreign troops, according to Afghanistan NGO Safety Office, a body that monitors security for non-governmental organisations. Meanwhile, Afghan forces killed nearly 10 Taliban fighters during a sweep in the Deh Rawood district of Uruzgan province on Sunday, provincial police chief Juma Gul Hemat said. The operation, led by Afghan police, was still going on, he said. Last year was the bloodiest in Afghanistan since U.S.-led and Afghan forces toppled the Taliban in 2001 following the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States. Two U.S. non-governmental studies last week said that without new international efforts to win the war and develop the economy, Afghanistan could once again become a failed state and terrorist haven. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is to visit London this week to discuss strategy on Afghanistan.
Afghan police and security forces arrive at a mosque after a suicide blast in Lashkar Gah city in the southern Helmand province January 31, 2008. A suicide bomber blew himself up ...
