Nato raid kills two, sparks protests

Kabul : Hundreds of protesters carrying the bodies of two people killed in a Nato-Afghan raid blocked a key road in eastern Afghanistan yesterday. The demonstrators say the dead were villagers while the coalition says they were Taliban insurgents.

The protest was one of the first since a recent US-Afghan deal on night raids mandated that Afghans were supposed to take the lead in such operations with US forces taking a back seat. But many Afghans still blame the raids on the US and Nato, and they've persisted as a point of disagreement.

Afghans say the raids, especially those carried out at night by American forces and their allies, cause needless civilian deaths and sow terror among the population. The US military considers the raids critical to its operations.

Competing narratives

Nato and residents offered competing narratives on what happened during the overnight raid in a village in Laghman province.

Nato said one of the men killed was a Taliban leader wanted for coordinating roadside bombings against coalition forces in the area. It said he and another man opened fire during the Afghan-led operation.

The alliance said several other insurgents were detained.

"It is not acceptable that they are coming and conducting night raids on the homes of innocent civilians," said Quasimullah, a villager who goes by only one name. "We want the president to put a stop to night raids as soon as possible."