The Associated Press, October 29, 2012

Joint Afghan-US military raid kills 3 civilians in east

Villagers at the funeral of the civilians told reporters they included a farmer, his wife and their 14-year-old son

An Afghan army officer says a pre-dawn raid in the eastern province of Ghazni killed four Taliban and three civilian bystanders.

Lt. Ghulam Sarwer Attai, who commanded the special army unit which carried out Monday’s raid along with NATO forces, said it was in Qalai-i-Qazi area of Ghazni.

NATO said in an announcement that the raid targeted a Taliban leader and that the force was attacked by insurgents carrying assault rifles and returned fire, killing a number of them. It did not mention the number of Taliban killed or civilians.

Villagers at the funeral of the civilians told reporters they included a farmer, his wife and their 14-year-old son. Video images from the funeral showed the bodies of two men and a woman.

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