KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - American troops shot and killed two Afghan civilians Tuesday in western Kandahar province as a new United Nations report warned the number of civilian deaths in Afghanistan hit an all-time high last year.
The pair were travelling in a vehicle that reportedly came too close to a foot patrol in the hotly contested Maywand district, about 50 kilometres west of Kandahar city.
The U.S. troops were under Canadian command, part of a battalion brought to Maywand as part of Ottawa's agreement to extend the current mission to 2011.
"Civilian deaths are always regrettable," said Brigadier-General Denis Thompson, commander of Task Force Kandahar.
The incident happened just hours after a UN human rights report warned that the number of civilian deaths in Afghanistan increased by 40 per cent last year to 2,118.
The soldiers who fired on the vehicle said they warned the driver to halt several times.
Fearing a suicide bomber, they opened fire and wounded the two occupants of the vehicle, but a statement from NATO said the victims died after being airlifted to hospital.
"It is important to note that all of our soldiers are trained to take any and all appropriate steps to minimize civilian casualties," Thompson said in a statement.
"However, they are authorized to take action to protect themselves when they believe they are being threatened."
Canadian troops have been involved in several similar incidents since the battle group first deployed for the current mission in 2006.
Ottawa has in the past paid compensation to the families of accidental shooting victims, even though it's not legally required to do so under a 2005 agreement with the Afghan government. Because the American soldiers were under Canadian command, it was unclear Tuesday who would take responsibility.
While the deep Afghan winter is traditionally a quiet time for the insurgency, NATO troops have nonetheless been exchanging plenty of gunfire with militants and dodging an increasing number of roadside bombs.
Over a recent 48-hour period in Kandahar city, at least seven improvised explosive devices were uncovered and defused. And on Sunday, an Afghan police officer was killed and several bystanders injured when a wheelbarrow bomb exploded in a failed assassination attempt against the city's police chief.
The UN's annual report on civilian casualties, released Tuesday in Kabul, blamed 55 per cent of last year's deaths on Taliban militants and 39 per cent on NATO forces, while the rest occurred in unclear circumstances.
Civilian deaths have been a huge source of friction between the U.S. and President Hamid Karzai, who says such deaths undermine his government and the international mission.
Fears persist that the number of civilian casualties could grow with the U.S. planning to shift tens of thousands of soldiers to Afghanistan this year to take on the Taliban and other militants.
Close to 3,000 American forces who recently arrived to secure two violent provinces near Kabul have begun operations, and their commander has admitted that civilian casualties could increase because of their presence. The Pentagon is also contemplating sending as many as 30,000 additional troops this year.
The U.S. and Afghan militaries this month announced plans to increase the number of Afghans who will take part in U.S. operations, a step aimed at reducing deaths of ordinary Afghans.
Despite new battlefield rules meant to reduce civilian casualties, U.S., NATO and Afghan troops killed 31 per cent more civilians in 2008 than the year before, the UN report said.
"As the conflict has intensified, it is taking an increasingly heavy toll on civilians."
Militants increasingly rely on roadside bombs, car bombs and suicide bombers, attacks that are "frequently undertaken regardless of the impact on civilians," the report said.
Two attacks highlighted that trend -- a February suicide bombing at a dog fight in Kandahar that left 67 civilians dead, and a July car bomb attack on the Indian Embassy that killed 55 civilians. Military leaders have long sought to emphasize how militant attacks kill far more civilians than the soldiers or officials usually targeted.
The report also made mention of a U.S. mission in August in Azizabad that the UN said killed 92 civilians, including 62 children. A U.S. investigation said 33 civilians were killed.
In another new report Tuesday, a U.S.-based group that advocates on behalf of civilians in war zones warned that "the lack of a clear, co-ordinated strategy to address civilian losses has been a leading source of anger and resentment toward military forces" in Afghanistan.
"The international coalition in Afghanistan is losing public support, one fallen civilian at a time," said the report by CIVIC -- the Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict.
