Kabul Raid Kills 3, Including 2 Children, Afghans Say

KABUL, Afghanistan - A raid by international forces on a compound in Kabul killed three people, including two children, Afghan officials and residents said Monday — the latest in a string of incidents fueling public anger over civilian casualties.

The U.S.-led coalition said its forces killed two armed militants and detained three others in the overnight operation, but did not immediately address the reports of children's deaths. A spokesman said the incident was under investigation.

Civilian casualties have become the most corrosive issue in the seven-year-old war. The Afghan government and the United Nations say an airstrike in Herat province last month killed 90 civilians, most of them children; the U.S. military disputes the toll.

President Hamid Karzai has repeatedly pleaded with NATO and American commanders to end night raids on homes and to coordinate operations with Afghan forces. "The war on terrorism is not in the Afghan villages," he has said.

Violence in Afghanistan is at its highest level since the 2001 invasion, with attacks up sharply along the Pakistan border and suicide bombings reaching into Kabul. More than 130 foreign troops have died this year.

Both U.S. presidential candidates have pledged to send more troops to Afghanistan, calling it the central front neglected by the war in Iraq.

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Associated Press writers contributed to this report.

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