Foreign and Afghan forces were accused yesterday of killing at least six civilians, including women and children, in two separate raids on suspected Taleban hideouts in south and southwestern Afghanistan.

At least eight people were killed on Sunday night in one raid involving ground troops and air strikes on the home of Mullah Manan, a Taleban commander in Bakwa district of Farah province, local officials said. Mullah Manan was reported to have escaped.

Another one or two were killed in an overnight raid by foreign forces on a Taleban commander’s house in Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province, according to officials there.

The Nato-led International Security Assistance Force, (ISAF) which leads the fight against the Taleban, denied involvement in either raid and the U.S.-led coalition, which mainly hunts al-Qaeda, said it was checking the reports.

But any civilian casualties place further strain on relations between foreign forces and the Afghan government, which has often complained about their heavy-handed tactics, especially during air strikes.

The casualties are also likely to compound mounting international criticism following the release of two reports last week warning that Afghanistan was reverting into a failed state and terrorist haven.

The killings came as Condoleezza Rice, the U.S. Secretary of State, prepared to visit London this week to discuss strategy on Afghanistan amid growing tension between Nato members over troop levels.

A total of 1,977 civilians were killed in fighting in Afghanistan in 2007, including nearly 240 in air strikes by foreign troops, according to Safety Office, a body that monitors security for non-governmental organisations.

Combined with military deaths, that made last year the bloodiest in Afghanistan since U.S.-led forces toppled the Taleban government in 2001 following the September 11 attacks on the United States.

Oxfam, the international aid organisation, also wrote to world leaders last week warning that they were falling dangerously short of the development targets they set two years ago for Afghanistan.

There were conflicting reports about the exact number of civilian casualties from Sunday night's raids.

Khan Aga, the governor of Bakwa district, said that one Taleban fighter and eight civilians, including two women and three children, were killed.

But Ghulam Mohaidun Balouch, the provincial governor, said that ten people were killed, including eight Taleban fighters and the wife and child of a Taleban commander.

Mr Balouch said later that six civilians and two Taleban had been killed, while Mullah Manan had escaped.

One official in Lashkar Gah said the raid there had killed a Talbeban commander and wounded his daughter, but another official said the daughter died too.

Separately, Afghan police clashed with Taleban militants in the Deh Rawood district of central Uruzgan province on Sunday, killing nine militants, according to local police.

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