Coalition troops kill 4 women, child in Afghanistan

US-led coalition troops "inadvertently" killed four women and a child in a gun battle in Afghanistan, while an international soldier died separately in a new bomb attack, the force said yesterday.
The civilians were killed Thursday when troops went to an area of central Ghazni province less than 100 kilometres (60 miles) south of Kabul to find a Taliban militant alleged to be coordinating foreign rebels, it said.
"As coalition forces approached a compound, they were threatened by several armed militants," a statement said.
"The force responded with small-arms fire, killing the militants and inadvertently killing four women and a child located with them," it said.
Several alleged militants were killed and three detained, the coalition said.
"The coalition regrets the death of these non-combatants," spokeswoman Lieutenant Colonel Rumi Nielson-Green said in the statement. "We are planning to conduct a full and thorough investigation."