KABUL -The US-led coalition in Afghanistan said on Wednesday it had used “precision fire” from aircraft cannon and not bombs during an anti-insurgent operation this week that Afghan officials said killed at least 16 civilians. The troops also had the right to return fire during the raid, in which militants occupied the homes of locals, coalition spokesman Tom Collins told reporters in the capital Kabul.Villagers from southern Kandahar’s Panjwayi district said Monday their homes had been bombed during the operation that started late Sunday, which they said killed more than the 16 civilians admitted to by Afghan officials.
Collins said coalition troops had come under attack from militants and had retaliated. “We had the right to open fire... the enemy chose to occupy those houses,” he said. “We did not bomb them, we used precision fire.” He said he was referring to 30mm shells fired by 4,000-round-a-minute gatling guns mounted on US A-10 Thunderbolt aircraft.
President Hamid Karzai summoned on Wednesday the commander of the 20,000-strong coalition, Lieutenant General Karl Eikenberry, to demand an explanation of the civilian deaths. The US military has also promised a full investigation.