(Updates with comments from U.S. military, presidential palace)By Mohammad RafiqMEHTAR LAM, Afghanistan, Jan 25 (Reuters) - Thousands of Afghans protested against President Hamid Karzai and the United States on Sunday over reports of fresh civilian deaths caused by U.S.-led troops during a raid against Taliban militants.The issue of civilian casualties is sensitive in Afghanistan and has eroded public support for Karzai's government and the foreign troops backing it.It has also caused a rift between Karzai and his Western allies more than seven years after U.S.-led and Afghan forces overthrew the Taliban's government.The operation causing the latest controversy happened this week in eastern Laghman province. The U.S. military said on Saturday that troops, backed by air support, had killed 15 militants in an overnight operation.Assadullah Wafa, a Karzai adviser investigating the deaths, said on Sunday that "16 civilians, many of them children and women, were killed" in the operation."We strongly condemn it and want an end to it (civilian casualties)", he told reporters in Mehtar Lam, Laghman's provincial capital, where the protest was held.A statement from the presidential palace quoted Karzai as saying that bombing villages and causing civilian deaths "will not bear any progress in the war against terrorism".Karzai said failure to coordinate attacks with his government would weaken its sovereignty and bolster the militants, it added.A spokesman for the U.S. military said it planned to jointly investigate the incident with the Afghan government this week.Chanting slogans against Karzai and the United States, thousands of people took part in the protest despite heavy rain."If the foreign troops do not put an end to their operations, we will launch jihad," said Malik Hazrat, a protest leader.The provincial governor tried to calm the demonstrators and invited them for talks with representatives of the U.S.-led troops. But some protesters threw stones at him and he stopped his speech.There was no report of injuries and by midday the protest had simmered down.Nearly 700 civilians were killed in operations by foreign and Afghan forces against the militants until October last year, according to a national human rights body based on a U.N. estimate.Karzai, who has repeatedly urged foreign troops to coordinate operations with his government, last week termed civilian deaths as a main source of Afghanistan's instability. (Writing by Sayed Salahuddin; Editing by Alex Richardson)
Map of Laghman Province in Afghanistan.
On January 15, a United States military strike in the Afghan province of Laghman killed 15 people, according to U.S. officials. The U.S claims only militants were killed, but on Saturday, village elders disputed that claim with the allegation that the casualties were all civilians. The raid has sparked demonstrations in Afghanistan, with demonstrators renewing their pleas for the occupying forces to leave the country. 

Afghan leaders have said that the U.S has apologized to them for the attack, but have not publicly admitted to making a mistake. In a statement, the U.S government described what they believed to be a successful mission against a wanted militant, saying, "the operation in Mehtar Lam District, approximately 60km northeast of Kabul City, targeted a Taliban commander believed to conduct terrorist activities throughout the Kabul, Laghman and Kapisa provinces."

"As coalition forces approached the wanted militant's compound, several groups of armed militants exited their homes and began manoeuvering on the force," added the statement. Nine fighters were killed by small-arms fire and four killed by "precision close-air support", the statement continued, adding that two other fighters were killed during a subsequent search of the houses in the compound.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates ''(left)'' and Afghani President Hamid Karzai at a press conference in 2007. 
However, this version of events was contested when a statement from the Afghani president's office declared that 16 civilians were killed, not 15 militants. That statement also claimed that two women and three children were among the dead.

Thousands of angered Afghanis took to the streets in the Afghan city of Mihtarlam, chanting "death to Americans".  

President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan condemned the incident, and said that bombing civilians "will not bear any progress in the war against terrorism".

U.S President Barack Obama has vowed to put more U.S troops in Afghanistan, ignoring a request from President Karzai that there be a timetable for U.S withdrawal from the country. Defense Secretary Robert Gates says the new administration's goal is to eliminate the threat posed by al-Qaeda and other groups. "Let me just say both President Bush and President Obama have made clear that we will go after al-Qaeda wherever al-Qaeda is and we will continue to pursue them," Gates said.