미군이 이끄는 아프가니스탄 주둔 연합군이 아프간 중부에서 교전중 뜻하지 않게 4명의 아프간 여성과 어린이 1명을 사살했다고 미군 당국이 발표했습니다.
미군 당국은 어제 미군이 아프간 중부 가즈니주 지로지역의 탈레반 반군 주요 거점을 공격하면서 민간인들도 전투의 희생이 됐다고 밝혔습니다.
미군 당국은 탈레반 반군이 연합군에 위협을 가해 응사하는 과정에서 반군 여러 명과 여성, 어린이 등을 사살했다고 밝혔습니다.
미 당국은 부주의하게 민간인 희생자가 발생했다며 이에 대한 전면적 조사를 약속했습니다.
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U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan say (today/ Friday)they killed
four women and a child while battling militants in central Afghanistan.
A U.S. military spokeswoman (Lieutenant Colonel Rumi Nelson-Green) says
the civilians were killed Thursday as troops moved in on a key Taliban militant
in the Giro district of central Ghazni province.
She says armed militants threatened coalition forces, which responded with
small-arms fire, killing several Taliban as well as the women and the child.
Three militants were arrested.
The U.S. military called the deaths "inadvertent" and promised a full
investigation.
About 25-hundred people, including civilians, have been killed so far this year
during fighting between coalition forces and militants.
Meanwhile, officials say a coalition soldier died today in western Afghanistan
when his convoy was hit by a bomb.
More than 500 U.S. troops have been killed in Afghanistan since 2001, when the
U.S. military helped oust the Taliban-led government.