U.S. general visits Afghan bomb site for death claim

KABUL — A U.S. general traveled to western Afghanistan on Wednesday to investigate claims that six women and two children were killed in a U.S. airstrike, officials said. Photographs of the site showed at least one dead boy, bloodied and dirty from the attack.

Civilian deaths have been a huge source of friction between the U.S. and President Hamid Karzai, who has increased demands that American troops avoid killing civilians.

Karzai's office announced Wednesday that he had spoken on the phone with President Barack Obama for the first time Tuesday, four weeks after Obama's inauguration. Karzai had acknowledged last week that the two presidents had not spoken and said there was tension in the U.S.-Afghan relationship, mostly over civilian casualties.

The Afghan Ministry of Defense condemned the deaths of civilians in Monday's airstrike and said it came despite a recent U.S.-Afghan agreement to increase participation of Afghan forces in U.S. missions, a step aimed at preventing civilian casualties.

The U.S. coalition said in a statement that the strike Monday in the Gozara district of Herat province killed 15 militants and targeted a leader named Ghulam Yahya Akbari.

But Ekremuddin Yawar, a police commander for western Afghanistan, said six women and two children were among the dead, along with five men. He said the group was living in tents in the remote Afghan countryside.

Photographs obtained by The Associated Press from the site show the body of a young boy — bloodied and dirtied — lying on a white shroud. Afghan men can be seen digging about a dozen fresh graves. Dead sheep and destroyed tents can also be seen.

In response to Yawar's allegation, U.S. Brig. Gen. Michael Ryan traveled to Gozara district on Wednesday to meet with officials "to see what the situation is," said Capt. Elizabeth Mathias, a U.S. military spokeswoman.

Coalition and Afghan troops have been at the site of the operation since Tuesday investigating, she said. The Afghan army also conducted a meeting, known as a shura, with local leaders over the issue.

For now, the U.S. is standing behind its information that 15 militants were killed, she said.

The Ministry of Defense said seven militants were killed in the attack, including three people it named as associates of Yahya Akbari. Neither it nor the U.S. said Yahya Akbari was killed.