Five civilians die in NATO gunfight

KABUL: Five civilians have died after a firefight involving NATO-led troops in Afghanistan, officials said Tuesday.

The incident happened in Sangin district, Helmand province, in southern Afghanistan Tuesday, a flashpoint area in the International Security Assistance Force's (ISAF) nine-year war against Taliban militants.

ISAF said its troops had come under fire from insurgents and, after the exchange of fire had ended, five bodies were discovered. It is currently assessing what happened, a spokesman added.

"Insurgents attacked coalition forces from a compound with small arms fire and machine guns," ISAF said in a statement.

"Initial reports indicate, after gaining positive identification of the insurgents' position, coalition forces engaged with direct and indirect fire.

"Following the engagement, coalition forces conducted a battle damage assessment and discovered five civilian casualties."

The incident was described as a "tragedy" by Lieutenant Colonel Patrick Hynes of ISAF.

"We are aware that insurgents purposefully stage attacks against friendly forces using innocent civilian's homes," he added.

The civilian death toll from the war in Afghanistan rose 20 percent in the first ten months of this year on the same period last year, the United Nations says.

Preliminary figures show there were 2,412 deaths and 3,803 injuries in that time among civilians.