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SHINDAND, Afghanistan: Afghan President Hamid Karzai Thursday made a tightly guarded visit to a remote village hit by deadly US-led air strikes, promising to arrest anyone whose "false information" may have guided the attack.
Karzai's rare trip outside the capital Kabul comes as the US-headed coalition disputes Afghan and UN findings that more than 90 civilians, most of them children, were killed in the August 22 strikes in Herat province.
The coalition has said its investigation showed between five and seven civilians were killed along with 30-35 Taliban, including an important commander.
Karzai held closed talks with elders and officials after flying in from Kabul. He spoke in strong terms against civilian casualties in military operations, Herat province governor Mohammad Hussain Anwari told AFP.
"The president promised to bring to justice to those elements who provided false information for the troops which resulted in the civilian bombing," said Anwari, who was at the meeting.
"He has given firm orders to security forces to find those elements giving false information."
Locals in the affected village, Azizabad in Shindand district, say the Afghan and international special forces who were involved in the operation may have been deliberately misled.
Villager Gul Ahmad, who said he had lost several relatives, appreciated Karzai's visit.
"But the president must arrest the four people that we think spy for foreign forces and provided them with false information and surrender the guys to us for punishment," he told AFP.
Karzai has already sacked two senior army commanders and his cabinet has demanded a review of the regulations under which international forces operate in Afghanistan.
Karzai had decided to visit the area to express sympathy for locals, said a presidential spokesman Siamak Herawi.
"The aim of the visit is to pray for the martyred, express his condolences to the families of the victims, visit the scene of the incident personally and talk to villagers about the issue," he said.
If the toll of more than 90 dead is confirmed, it would be one of the deadliest incidents involving civilians killed in military since international troops arrived to oust the extremist Taliban regime in late 2001.
- AFP/yt
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