Anti-American protesters say troops killed 2 civilians; NATO says they were insurgents

Anti-US protest blocks highway in east Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan — Hundreds of demonstrators are blocking a main highway between Kabul and the eastern city of Jalalabad to protest two deaths in a night raid. The protesters say the two men killed were innocent civilians, while NATO says its forces killed two insurgents.

Ghafor Khan, chief of the district of Surkh Rod, said Wednesday that a father and his son were killed in the Tuesday night operation in his district. He says police are trying to keep the demonstration peaceful.

NATO says Afghan and coalition troops killed two insurgents and detained several others while pursuing a bomb-making expert who was making sophisticated explosives for the Taliban. The coalition says the joint force took enemy fire before fatally shooting two men.