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Escalating violence in Afghanistan is having an increasingly deadly impact on civilians caught up in the fighting, according to the Red Cross.
Five and a half years after the overthrow of the Taleban by US-led forces and the election of Washington-backed President Hamid Karzai, civilians in the country are more than ever at risk from roadside explosions, suicide attacks and bombing raids by coalition forces.
"Civilians suffer horribly from mounting threats to their security," said Pierre Kraehenbuehl, operations director of the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Mr Kraehenbuehl said ordinary Afghans, especially those in the most remote areas of the country, still lacked access to basic services such as medical care. He said those most in need were the most difficult to reach: "[It has] become increasingly challenging to carry out humanitarian work outside major cities."
The warning came as US forces killed seven Afghan police who had mistaken them for Taleban fighters and opened fire on them. The US forces reportedly fired back and called in air strikes.
President Hamid Karzai's spokesman labelled the deaths at a remote checkpoint in the eastern province of Nangarhar "a tragic incident" caused by a lack of communication.
"The police forces were not aware of the coalition's operation," said spokesman Karim Rahimi. "The police checkpoint in the area thought that they were the enemy, so police opened fire on the coalition, and then the coalition thought that the enemies were firing on them, so they returned fire back."
Major Chris Belcher, a spokesman for the US forces, said the patrol had involved US and Afghan forces and that it came under attack from small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades..
Mr Rahimi said the incident showed why President Karzai has repeatedly called for increased co-operation and communication between Afghan and international troops.
There have been numerous incidents of civilians being killed by international troops in Afghanistan and the authorities have pleaded - apparently in vain - for more to be done to avoid the fatalities. In March at least 19 civilians were killed and 50 wounded by US Marines who fired on civilians while speeding away from the site of a suicide bomb attack.
- INDEPENDENT
