Taliban say 200 civilians dead; British disagree

KABUL, Afghanistan -- A Taliban report that 200 villagers were killed in a missile strike this week opened a contentious exchange of claims and counter-claims Friday over civilian casualties from the U.S.-led air campaign against Afghanistan.

Later, the air campaign apparently resumed early Saturday when several planes streaked over Kabul and large explosions were heard in northern areas of the city, rattling buildings in the heart of the capital.

The apparent new round of attacks followed a lull in the U.S.-led campaign against the Taliban militia Friday for the Muslim day of weekly prayers.

Saturday's air attacks mark the beginning of a seventh day of strikes against the Taliban, which governs Afghan-istan and is sheltering Osama bin Laden, linked to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.

Until the air strikes resumed early Saturday, missiles had landed outside Kabul before dawn Friday but the rest of the day was quiet.

The Taliban said at least 200 were killed when the village of Karam, near the eastern town of Jalalabad, was struck by missiles on Wednesday.

"We're still digging bodies out of the rubble," Zadra Azam -- the Taliban deputy governor of Nangarhar province, where the village is located -- said Friday.

British officials dismissed Taliban casualty claims as propaganda. "It's widely understood ... that there have not been so many civilian casualties," International Development Secretary Clare Short said in London. She spoke after the Taliban announcement of deaths in Karam, but it was not clear if she was also referring to them.

Even before Friday's report, the Taliban have spoken of dozens killed in the raids. Reports of casualties are extremely difficult to verify, with Afghanistan all but sealed off from the outside world. Foreigners -- including foreign journalists -- have been ordered out. There are no international telephone lines. Use of equipment like satellite phones and computers is severely restricted.

Only the deaths of four guards working for a mine-clearing agency contracted by the United Nations have been confirmed -- by U.N. officials in neighboring Pakistan.

Taliban casualty claims have typically been made in an erratic manner.

The Taliban ambassador to Pakistan, Abdul Salam Zaeef, changed the numbers in the middle of a news conference Thursday in Islamabad. He first put the number at 70, then at the end hastily told reporters that 100 people had been killed in a place he identified only as a village near Jalalabad.

Now that the Taliban have identified the village, its location could provide a clue. Karam lies very close to the town of Darunta, about 80 miles east of the capital, Kabul, in an area where Osama bin Laden is believed to train fighters for his al-Qaida network.

Civilian deaths unavoidable

The United States and its allies have repeatedly stressed that everything possible will be done to avoid civilian casualties. Still, they acknowledge that such deaths are almost unavoidable, with targets in or near populated areas.

"I think everyone in this country knows that the United States of America does not target civilians. We have not, we do not," Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said at the Pentagon when asked Thursday about Taliban claims.

"There is no question but that when one is engaged militarily that there are going to be unintended loss of life," he said. "And there's no question but that I and anyone involved regrets the unintended loss of life."

Reports of civilian deaths clearly caused unease for Pakistan, already facing an angry backlash from militant Islamic groups over its support for the United States against bin Laden and the Taliban.