Civilian casualty totals in question

LONDON -- British officials said Friday they believe Afghanistan's Taliban government has exaggerated the number of civilian casualties in U.S.-led raids.

"It's widely understood among Afghanistan refugees that there have not been so many civilian casualties," International Development Secretary Clare Short told a news conference.

The Taliban claimed Friday that at least 200 people had been killed two days earlier in an airstrike on a village outside the eastern city of Jalalabad. Short spoke several hours after the Taliban announcement, but did not mention the specific claim of 200 casualties. The Taliban report could not be independently verified.

Undersecretary of State for Defense Lewis Moonie said the United States and its allies, who include Britain, "select our targets very carefully indeed ... we do not target civilian populations."