The survey, based on research work by the non-profit organization Global Exchange, counted more than 800 innocent civilians killed — a count that is likely to rise as the ongoing survey extends beyond the 11 population centers inspected so far into more remote villages.

What differentiates the Afghan campaign from previous US military engagements is that the civilians, increasingly, have not been caught up in strikes on legitimate targets or killed as a result of bombs going astray — what in military parlance is known as "collateral damage" — but rather have been deliberately targeted by precision bombers acting on flawed instructions from their superiors.

The sense of unease at the continuing US campaign to uproot Taleban and Al-Qaeda fighters reached a head earlier this month when a series of airstrikes on the village of Kakrak, in Oruzgan province, mistakenly targeted a pair of engagement parties. Local officials counted 54 dead, most of them women and children, and at least 120 wounded.

The New York Times report was based on reviews conducted over a six-month period of 11 locations where airstrikes killed as many as 400 civilians. The reviews found that even when genuine military targets were identified, civilians were sometimes killed as a result of the Pentagon’s use of overwhelming force.

Pentagon officials say their strategy has shifted in recent months to increased use of ground forces to hunt down remaining fighters for the Taleban and Al-Qaeda, but that continuing airstrikes still often have tragic consequences, according to the Times. The report follows a controversial US attack this month on villages in Oruzgan Province, where airstrikes killed at least 54 civilians.

American commanders, however, rejected the notion that they may be relying too heavily on air power. "We painstakingly assess the potential for injuring civilians or damaging civilian facilities, and positively identify targets before striking," said Col. Ray Shepherd, spokesman for the US Central Command in Tampa, Florida.

Afghan officials are beginning to demand a greater say in the choice of US targets, the Times reported. "We have to be given a larger role," Abdullah Abdullah, the Afghan foreign minister, said in an interview with the newspaper.

"If things do not improve, well, I will certainly pray for the Americans and wish them success, but I will no longer be able to take part in this."

Meanwhile, field workers with Global Exchange, an American organization that has sent survey teams into Afghan villages, told the Times they have compiled a list of 812 Afghan civilians who were killed by American airstrikes. The Global Exchange workers said they expect that number to grow as their survey teams reach more remote villages.

In another incident, 13 people were killed and six others injured when a bus was blown up by a land mine in Afghanistan, the United Nations said in Kabul yesterday. The bus drove over the device on Saturday in mine-littered central province of Bamiyan.

"The driver of the bus was told by the villagers to avoid this part of the road because of land mines but for reasons unknown he did not heed their warning," a UN statement said. The explosion occurred some 500 meters from the Band-e-Amir Lake, 60 kilometers west of the town of Bamiyan.

Afghanistan is one of the most heavily mined countries in the world after 23 years of conflict, with an estimated 10 million mines, and accidents are frequent. Bamiyan was the scene of heavy fighting for years under the previous Taleban regime before it was ousted last year. (The Independent)