(Updates with NATO rejection) KABUL, Jan 6 (Reuters) - The NATO-led force in Afghanistan on Tuesday rejected claims that its soldiers had killed civilians during an operation against Taliban insurgents in the southern province of Helmand. The issue of civilian deaths is sensitive in Afghanistan and has reduced public support for international forces in the country and caused a rift between President Hamid Karzai and his Western backers. Hundreds of Afghans were killed in air strikes and raids by foreign troops last year. The latest incident happened in Baghni district on Monday night when, according to a provincial government source, five members of a family were killed in an operation by British forces. No further details were given by the official. But the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said only insurgents were killed. "ISAF conducted a joint operation in Northern Helmand during the early hours of this morning. During the operation, a group of insurgents were positively identified leaving a compound ... they were engaged by ISAF forces," it said in a statement. "ISAF can confirm that throughout this precisely targeted operation, no buildings were engaged. ISAF has no knowledge of casualties other than the positively identified insurgents," it said. Britain has more than 8,700 soldiers in Afghanistan, most of them in Helmand province. Nearly 700 civilians were killed up to October last year in raids by foreign and Afghan forces, an Afghan rights body said last month, quoting a U.N. estimate. Violence has surged to its worst level in Afghanistan since the Taliban, ousted in a U.S.-led invasion in 2001, regrouped four years ago. On Tuesday, a soldier from the NATO-led force was killed in an attack in a southern area, the alliance said. Further details were not immediately available. (Writing by Sayed Salahuddin and Jonathon Burch; Editing by Giles Elgood)
Supporters of Pakistani Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami chant slogans as they protest against the launch of an offensive by security forces against militants in Khyber tribal agency, in Peshawar January 3, 2009. ...
