'Setback' after Nato airstrike kills 12 civilians

Troops were doing everything they can to minimise civilian casualties, Gordon Brown said yesterday as Nato leaders suspended use of the rocket system involved.

The battle to win hearts and minds has been badly damaged by Sunday's strike which saw two stray US rockets miss their target by 600 metres and hit a house.

Chief of the defence staff Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup said the incident was a "very serious setback" to Operation Moshtarak in which thousands of coalition troops are working alongside Afghan forces to capture Taliban strongholds in areas around Marjah and Nad-e-Ali.

The Prime Minister said: "I have spoken to President Karzai and I wanted him to know that we are doing everything in our power to minimise civilian casualties.

"We have got to do everything we can to keep our troops safe but at the same time the purpose of this mission is to win the support of the Afghan people, to bring them to support the constitution of Afghanistan and away from the Taliban."

The civilian deaths were a major blow to Nato and Afghan efforts to win the support of residents in the Marjah area, a Taliban logistical centre and a base for the lucrative opium trade that finances the insurgency.

President Karzai has called for a thorough investigation into the Sunday's airstrike. Differing accounts have emerged.

Yesterday Afghan Interior Minister Atmar said nine civilians and two or three insurgents were among those killed, suggesting insurgents were firing at troops from a civilian home.

"The enemy did capture some civilians in their house and they were firing at our forces from this house. Unfortunately our forces didn't know that civilians were living in that house," he said.

The rockets were fired by the high mobility artillery rocket system at insurgents who had attacked US and Afghan forces, wounding one American and one Afghan, Nato said.

General Stanley McChrystal, Nato's top commander in Afghanistan, apologised to Afghan President Hamid Karzai and suspended use of the system pending a review. Before the offensive began on Saturday, President Karzai pleaded with military leaders to be "seriously careful for the safety of civilians".

A further Nato airstrike in Kandahar yesterday killed a further five civilians and wounded another two. But the group was deliberately targeted under the mistaken belief they were planting road-side bombs. Once the error had been discovered, first aid was administered and the injured taken to a Nato medical facility.

nTributes were paid last night to a Territorial Army soldier killed in an explosion while on foot patrol in Afghanistan. Rifleman Mark Marshall 29, of 6 Rifles, a Police Community Support Officer, died on Sunday in Sangin, Helmand Province. His mother, Lynn, described him as a "beloved son" who "lived life to the full".

A British soldier died on Sunday in small arms fire in the Musa Qala area. And last night the MoD announced a soldier had died near Sangin while dealing with a roadside bomb.

None of the three fatalities are related to Operation Moshtarak.