KABUL, Afghanistan — Scores of Afghan civilians who had gathered in a village for the memorial ceremony of a militia commander were killed when U.S. and Afghan soldiers attacked in the middle of the night, officials and villagers said Saturday.
President Hamid Karzai condemned the early Friday operation in western Afghanistan and said most of the dead were civilians. The U.S. coalition, however, said it thought only five civilians were among those killed and said that it would investigate the Afghan claims.
An Afghan human-rights group that visited the site of the operation said Saturday that at least 78 people were killed. The Ministry of Interior has said 76 civilians died, including 50 children. The Ministry of Defense said 25 militants and five civilians were killed.
Ahmad Nader Nadery of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission confirmed reports that a memorial ceremony was being held for a deputy militia commander allied with the Afghan police named Timor Shah, who had died in a personal dispute several months ago.
