By KUNA,
Kabul : Several militants and four Afghan civilians were killed in an air strike by the US-led coalition troops in southeastern Afghanistan, the military said on Wednesday.
The civilians killed included three women and an Afghan boy, said a coalition forces statement here.
It says 12 more suspected militants were detained during the operation conducted in Paktia province on Tuesday.
Coalition forces searched compounds in Mata Khan district, targeting two militant leaders.
Coalition forces were engaged by militants from outside one of the compounds and responded with an air strike, killing the attacking militants and a woman.
Several armed militants engaged the force from inside one compound and were killed with small-arms fire.
Three more women and a boy were injured in exchange of fire from another room in the same compound. The boy and two women later died at a coalition forces hospital, said the statement.
Residents and local officials, however, said majority of those killed in the operation were civilians.
A provincial official, who did not want to be named, said most of the victims were women and children.