US operations in Afghanistan kill 19 militants

Kabul: A series of operations by US forces in eastern Afghanistan targeted an Al Qaida leader and a bomb-making cell, killing 19 militants, the coalition said on Saturday.

An Afghan police chief said officials were checking unconfirmed reports that civilians may have been killed.

The operations took place on Friday in Nangarhar and Khost provinces, volatile regions along the Pakistan border.

In the deadliest operation, the coalition said it killed 10 militants during a strike against a bomb-making cell under the command of Jalaluddin Haqqani, a fierce militant leader believed to operate out of Pakistan.

Wazir Pacha, the spokesman for Khost's provincial police chief, said a delegation of police had been sent to investigate following unconfirmed reports of civilian deaths.

The governor of Khost, Arsallah Jamal, said he did not believe any civilians had been killed but that officials wanted to make sure. He said it was unlikely that civilians would have been in the region where the operation took place.