<p>The deaths occurred on Wednesday in Zhare District of Kandahar Province, an area described by coalition forces as largely pacified in recent months, and two insurgents were also killed, the Afghan officials said.<br /><br />A spokesman for the Nato International Security Assistance Force, Master Sgt Christopher DeWitt, said the authorities were aware of the episode and had sent a team to the district to investigate. He said ISAF had not previously issued a news release on the deaths.<br /><br />Zalmai Ayoubi, a spokesman for the governor of Kandahar, said that a Nato reconnaissance aircraft spotted five militants planting mines in the village of Siacha, in Zhare District on Wednesday. The plane targeted the insurgents, killing two and wounding a third, and then pursued the other two suspects as they carried their injured comrade away.<br /><br />“The plane chased them, the insurgents entered a street where children were playing and as a result of its shooting, seven people have been killed, including six children, and two girls also have been injured,” Ayoubi said. The victims were members of two families.<br /><br />American troops have destroyed numerous dwellings in Zhare to deny insurgents hiding <br />places, and they have also built new roads across farmland because existing ones were so heavily mined. Residents were quickly compensated by the military, however, and in recent months the area, one of several districts near Kandahar city that were once Taliban strongholds, has been relatively quiet.<br /><br />The area is also known as the ancestral home of the Taliban leader Mullah Muhammad Omar.<br /></p>
<p>The deaths occurred on Wednesday in Zhare District of Kandahar Province, an area described by coalition forces as largely pacified in recent months, and two insurgents were also killed, the Afghan officials said.<br /><br />A spokesman for the Nato International Security Assistance Force, Master Sgt Christopher DeWitt, said the authorities were aware of the episode and had sent a team to the district to investigate. He said ISAF had not previously issued a news release on the deaths.<br /><br />Zalmai Ayoubi, a spokesman for the governor of Kandahar, said that a Nato reconnaissance aircraft spotted five militants planting mines in the village of Siacha, in Zhare District on Wednesday. The plane targeted the insurgents, killing two and wounding a third, and then pursued the other two suspects as they carried their injured comrade away.<br /><br />“The plane chased them, the insurgents entered a street where children were playing and as a result of its shooting, seven people have been killed, including six children, and two girls also have been injured,” Ayoubi said. The victims were members of two families.<br /><br />American troops have destroyed numerous dwellings in Zhare to deny insurgents hiding <br />places, and they have also built new roads across farmland because existing ones were so heavily mined. Residents were quickly compensated by the military, however, and in recent months the area, one of several districts near Kandahar city that were once Taliban strongholds, has been relatively quiet.<br /><br />The area is also known as the ancestral home of the Taliban leader Mullah Muhammad Omar.<br /></p>