Residents say foreign raid kills dozens of Afghans

I certainly hope the Brits are right about this, but with six family members in hospital with shrapnel wounds it sounds like the Afghans may be telling the truth.

Afghanistan (Reuters) - Residents of a Taliban-controlled town in southern Afghanistan said on Sunday dozens of civilians including women and children had been killed in aerial bombing.

British and American forces confirmed there had been fighting in the area but the British denied any air strikes occurred there late on Saturday, while the U.S. military was making checks.

There was no way of independently verifying the accounts.

...

At least six wounded civilians were brought to a hospital in Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital of Helmand.

They belonged to the family of Ghulam Mohammad and included three men, two women and a child, said Rahmatullah Hanafi, the head of Emergency hospital where the group was treated.

He said all had shrapnel wounds and one of the women was in a critical condition.

Mohammad said eight of his family members, including children, were also killed in the attack, which he said went on for several hours.

...

"So far between 60 killed and wounded people have been recovered and there are people who are trapped under collapsed houses," Mohammad told Reuters outside the hospital

...

The British military which has the largest force in Helmand, said there were no air strikes launched in the area.

"There was not an air strike in that area last night. Coalition forces were engaged by the Taliban and there was a contact and a firefight, but no close air support dropped anything," a British military spokeswoman in Helmand said.

Via Reuters.