US military: November fight with Taliban killed 33 civilians

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - The U.S. military in Afghanistan says its investigation into a November firefight with the Taliban in Kunduz province has shown that 33 civilians died in the raid during which U.S. troops fired on Afghan homes.

The probe followed claims that civilian deaths resulted from airstrikes called in to support Afghan and U.S. troops under fire in the province's Boz village, which targeted two senior Taliban commanders.

A U.S. military statement released on Thursday says the investigation "determined, regretfully, that 33 civilians were killed and 27 wounded" as troops responded to fire from "Taliban who were using civilian houses as firing positions."

Residents later carried over a dozen corpses of the dead, including children and family members of the Taliban fighters, toward a local governor's office in a show of rage.