The Associated Press: Afghan police say 3 dead in coalition strike

 official says a coalition operation has killed three Afghan civilians.

Gen. Abdul Jalal Jalal, the provincial police chief in the eastern province of Kunar, said a coalition operation apparently targeted a suicide cell, but that only civilians were in the home when it was attacked.

Jalal blamed the deaths on coalition airstrikes but U.S. coalition spokesman Capt. Scott Miller said he had no reports of airstrikes in Kunar, though artillery was used in one operation.

President Hamid Karzai has long pleaded with international troops to avoid civilian deaths in its operations.

The Afghan government and United Nations say an Aug. 22 U.S. operation killed some 90 civilians.