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One person has been shot dead by police as hundreds of protesters took to the streets in eastern Afghanistan, accusing Nato-led forces of killing civilians during an overnight raid near the city of Jalalabad.
Angry Afghans set fire to tires and blocked roads in the Surkh Road district of Nangahar province on Friday, demanding an explanation for the deaths.
Witnesses told Al Jazeera that between nine and 15 civilians had been killed in the Nato attack.
Mohammed Arish, a government administrator in Surkh Rod, said a father and his four sons and four members of another family were among the dead.
"They are farmers. They are innocent. They are not insurgents or militants," Arish told The Associated Press by phone.
Arish said the protesters had tried to march toward the provincial capital of Jalalabad before being turned back by police.
The Nangahar governor's office said at least three people were injured during a clash with police.
'Taliban firefight'
A Nato spokesman confirmed foreign and Afghan forces had conducted some operations in the area but said he was not aware of any civilian deaths and the alliance was checking the incident.
Colonel Wayne Shanks said eight Taliban fighters were killed in a firefight, adding that fighters fired rocket-propelled grenades at Nato forces.
Two other people were captured during the operation, and weapons and communications gear were confiscated at the targeted compound, Shanks said.
Al Jazeera's Hoda Abdel Hamid reporting from Kabul said foreign forces and Afghan troops were flown to the area by helicopters overnight and carried out the raid.
"According to a Nato and Isaf statement they were targeting Taliban sub-commanders and some fighters which their intelligence said were hiding in a compound outside a village.
"But the villagers said none of those killed had anything to do with the Taliban, that all of them were innocent civilians and members of two different families."
Last year was the deadliest for Afghan civilians since the war started in 2001, according to the United Nations.
Afghan officials say about 170 Afghan civilians were killed between the months of March and April this year alone, an increase of 33 per cent compared to the same period last year.
PHOTO CAPTION
Local residents burn a makeshift U.S. flag as they accuse NATO forces of killing civilians in an overnight raid, at Surkh Rod, Afghanistan, Friday, May 14, 2010.
Al-Jazeera
