The rain of death from US military aircraft continues to pour down on Afghan civilians, as the Afghan Interior Ministry reports that 76 civilians, "most of them children," have been killed in a bombing raid in Herat province.   This while the victims attended a holy Koran recitation.

U.S.-led coalition forces killed 76 Afghan civilians in western Afghanistan on Friday, most of them children, the Interior Ministry said.

The coalition denied killing civilians. Civilian deaths in military operations have become an emotive issue among Afghans, many of whom feel international forces take too little care when launching air strikes, undermining support for their presence.

"Seventy-six civilians, most of them women and children, were martyred today in a coalition forces operation in Herat province," the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

Coalition forces bombarded the Azizabad area of Shindand district in Herat province on Friday afternoon, the ministry said. Nineteen of the victims were women, seven of them men and the rest children under the age of 15, it said.

[Update: Death toll hits 95, with 50 children among the dead.]

The hoary and hackneyed response from the US-led "coalition forces" once again denies that "any civilians" were killed and, instead, the air strikes killed gobs of "militants."  Confusing the response, the Afghan Defense Ministry says that five civilians were killed along with twenty-five Taliban.  As has been the case repeatedly, we can expect further assessment to establish the veracity of the Interior Ministry report.