US-led coalition and Afghan troops killed more than 220 suspected Taliban militants in strikes in Helmand province last week, the US military said on Monday. It is the biggest insurgent toll reported in recent weeks. But several residents and a lawmaker said scores of civilians had died in the operation in the Sangin district of Helmand province.

"There is basically no Taliban killed. The Taliban fire and then escaped, then the foreign troops came and bombard. Three hundred people have been killed and wounded,î said lawmaker Dad Muhammad Khan, who is also a former provincial intelligence chief. Several residents rang a reporter of Reuters to say that more than 70 civilians were killed in air strikes by foreign forces in Sangin.

On Monday, hundreds of protesters blocked a road in Kabul accusing US-led troops of killing three members of a family, including two children, in a raid earlier in the day. Residents said US-led troops carried out a pre-dawn raid in Hud Kheil area in the eastern quarter of Kabul, killing a man identified by neighbours as Noorullah and two of his sons.

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