15 Taliban, 3 human shields die in Afghan action

AP/Washington Post:

U.S.-led coalition troops battling suspected militants in southern Afghanistan lobbed a grenade that destroyed a house and killed 15 militants as well as a woman and two children, the coalition said Monday.

Meanwhile, weekend reports of other violence included the deaths of three policemen and a coalition soldier in separate explosions and raids.

The U.S.-led troops were raiding compounds suspected of housing bomb makers in the Garmser district of Helmand province on Sunday when militants attacked them with heavy fire, the statement said. Coalition forces responded with small-arms fire, killing several militants, it said.

"During one of the engagements, several militants barricaded themselves in a building on the compound and engaged coalition forces with a high volume of gunfire. Coalition forces used a single grenade which killed the attacking militants," the statement said. "However, the building the militants were fighting from collapsed."

After the clash, troops recovered the bodies of a woman and two children from the collapsed building, along with several militants and their weapons, it said. Another woman was wounded during the battle and taken to a medical facility for treatment. Two suspected militants were detained for questioning, the coalition said.

"We would like to express our heartfelt condolences to the families and loved ones of the deceased," said Maj. Chris Belcher, a coalition spokesman.

"When militants knowingly engage coalition forces with innocent people in the background, it only shows the extremists' complete disregard for innocent lives," Belcher said in a statement.

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The spokesmen in Afghanistan are getting to be much better at explaining the Taliban war crimes, even if they do not call them that. It is important to put the responsibility for civilian casualties on the enemy where it belongs in these battles. It denies them a on of their primary propaganda tools and puts the onus back on them. It also makes civilians wary of accepting them in their area.