Afghan civilian deaths 'inflated'

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The Afghan government and Nato have said publicly that figures for civilian casualties after military action are often exaggerated or fabricated.

Officials say insurgents are exploiting the issue to pressurise the government.

The remarks came amid continuing regular reports of high numbers of civilian deaths or injuries as a result of foreign military strikes.

The foreign forces here admit they are fighting a battle for people's hearts and minds, as well as a military one.

'Inflated figures'

The Nato-led force in the country, Isaf, has now stepped up that campaign, with its spokeswoman, Lt-Col Maria Carl, giving a press conference alongside the Afghan defence ministry spokesman, Gen Zahir Azimi.

Lt-Col Carl said accounts of civilian casualties after military engagements often turned out to be inflated or completely fabricated.

She gave recent examples, including village elders' accounts of more than 100 civilian deaths in western Afghanistan a few days ago.

Lt-Col Carl said it was now clear that no civilians had died there, saying that in fact foreign and Afghan forces had moved villagers to safety.

Gen Azimi from the defence ministry said the Taleban regularly forced villagers to phone media outlets with inflated figures, threatening to behead them if they did not do so.

Gen Azimi added that to work out accurate casualty figures took time - time which the insurgents could fill with propaganda.

Last month a group of charities said that foreign forces had killed well over 200 civilians since the start of the year.

Contacted by the BBC, the group's director said she acknowledged it was not easy to gather accurate information, but added that Isaf had not disputed its figures which came from a range of sources.

Nato's civilian spokesman, who was at the same news conference, said Isaf was working with the Afghan government on new guidelines to minimise civilian casualties, which would be announced very soon.