PM in vow over civilian casualties

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said troops engaged in fierce fighting in Afghanistan are doing all they can to stop innocent Afghans being killed - but the civilian causalities continued to grow.

Twelve civilians were killed on Sunday when two rockets missed their target and later it was announced another three had died after being caught up in Operation Moshtarak.

Chief of the Defence Staff Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup called the rocket incident a "very serious setback" to the operation in which thousands of coalition troops are working alongside Afghan forces to capture Taliban strongholds in areas around Marjah and Nad-e-Ali.

The Prime Minister said: "I have spoken to President Karzai and I wanted him to know that we are doing everything in our power to minimise civilian casualties. Obviously hundreds of troops have moved into an area where we have had problems with Taliban insurgents and our forces are at risk from explosive devices.

"We have got to do everything we can to keep our troops safe but at the same time the purpose of this mission is to win the support of the Afghan people, to bring them to support the constitution of Afghanistan and away from the Taliban.

"I believe that we will break the Taliban during this enterprise because people do not want to have the fear that is created by the Taliban and the possibility of al Qaida coming back into Afghanistan."

The International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) said another three locals had died in separate incidents. One of the dead was caught in crossfire while the other two approached soldiers who feared they were insurgents, Isaf said.

General Stanley McChrystal, Nato's top commander in Afghanistan, apologised to Afghan President Hamid Karzai and suspended use of the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (Himars) pending a review.

Before the offensive began in the early hours of Saturday, President Karzai pleaded with Afghan and foreign military leaders to be "seriously careful for the safety of civilians".

Addressing the troops on the eve of the operation, Brigadier James Cowan, commander of British forces in Helmand, had reiterated the need for "courageous restraint" to prevent civilian deaths.