Karzai dismayed over NATO raid as 12 die in protests

KUNDUZ: A deadly NATO raid in Afghanistan on Wednesday sparked protests that left 12 people dead and a furious President Hamid Karzai demanding an explanation from the US commander on the ground.

Police opened fire as 2,000 people, some throwing rocks at a foreign military and civilian reconstruction base, took to the streets of Taloqan, capital of the usually peaceful northeastern province of Takhar.

Around 80 people, including two German soldiers, were also wounded in the troubles that broke out after NATO-led forces said they killed four insurgents, including two armed women, during an overnight raid in the town.

A spokesman for the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said the raid targeted the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), a militant group that operates from bases including in Afghanistan.

But the protesters and the Western-backed Karzai administration said those who died during the operation were civilians.

"The situation is calm and the demonstrations are over," said a spokesman for the provincial governor, Faiz Mohammad Tawhidi. "Twelve people have been killed and 80 others injured."

Karzai, who frequently denounces foreign military operations that he says kill too many civilians, "strongly condemned" the raid, adding it had killed four members of the same family.

The president would demand an explanation of what happened from General David Petraeus, the US commander of troops in Afghanistan, his office said.

"The government of Afghanistan has a duty to assess the circumstances of the deaths of these individuals and demand an explanation from the commander of the NATO (in Afghanistan)," a statement from the office said.

Karzai also again called for an end to "unilateral" military operations by foreign forces in Afghanistan. ISAF had said earlier that the operation was conducted alongside Afghan forces.

ISAF spokesman Lieutenant Colonel John Dorrian had no immediate comment on Karzai's remarks.

During the protest, demonstrators threw rocks at the Provincial Advisory Team (PAT) compound, interior ministry spokesman Zemerai Bashary told AFP.

The local PAT is a German-led group of soldiers and civilians working to help Afghan government institutions improve their performance.

The two wounded soldiers did not sustain life threatening injuries, the German defence ministry said.

Lal Mohammad Ahmadzai, a regional police spokesman, accused "some opportunists and violence-seeking elements" of infiltrating the protests.

It was not immediately clear whether the casualties were shot by the police or other gunmen.

Although relatively peaceful compared to Taliban strongholds in the south, the north of Afghanistan has seen an increase in violence in recent years.

Seven UN staff were killed when their compound in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif was stormed during a protest against the burning of the Koran by an evangelical pastor in the United States.

Afghan and NATO forces have said that central Asian militant groups such as the IMU are active in the region.

ISAF said the operation against the house in Taloqan that triggered the protests targeted a key facilitator for the IMU who was involved in procuring and making weapons and explosives in the area.

It said it was a joint operation with Afghan forces and that weapons including a suicide vest and an AK-47 assault rifle were found at the scene.

All US-led international combat troops are due to withdraw from Afghanistan by 2014 although this month's killing of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden by US troops in Pakistan has led to calls for this process to be speeded up.

Control of seven more peaceful Afghan areas is due to be handed to the fast-growing Afghan military and police from July.

There are currently around 130,000 international troops, around two-thirds from the United States, stationed in Afghanistan. (AFP)