A NATO official says its forces killed too many civilians in Afghanistan in 2006 but the alliance is hoping to reduce the number in 2007.

"The single thing that we have done wrong and we are striving extremely hard to improve on [in 2007] is killing innocent civilians," Brig. Richard Nugee, spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force, said in Kabul on Wednesday.

Nugee said the alliance has been discussing for several weeks what it needs to do to reduce the number of civilian casualties.

But Nugee said it is important to remember that the Taliban, which is waging an insurgency in southern Afghanistan, killed far more civilians last year through its record number of roadside and suicide bomb attacks.

"There is absolutely no comparison to be made," he said. "The Taliban are killing significant numbers of their own people and showing no remorse at all."

Last October, NATO air strikes reportedly killed 31 people, including 20 members of one family, in the Panjwaii district of Kandahar province. The offensive involved Canadian soldiers.

NATO and Afghan officials investigated the incident, but the results of the investigation were never released to the public. The New York Times, however, reported that the investigation determined that 31 civilians died in the incident.

Nugee said NATO commanders have gone over the incident and the investigation "in very fine detail."
  
"While it has not come out publicly, it has made quite an impact on this headquarters," he said.

NATO officials were also accused of killing handfuls of civilians in 2006 through air strikes in its military operations and through gunfire from soldiers in military convoys.

Taliban militants, meanwhile, were said to be responsible for the deaths of 206 Afghan civilians, 54 Afghan security forces staff and 18 soldiers in NATO's ISAF through 117 suicide attacks in 2006.

The total, a record number, is six times the number that the Taliban launched in 2005.

Canada has more than 2,000 soldiers in Afghanistan, the majority stationed in Kandahar. Forty-four Canadian soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since Canada first sent troops to the country in early 2002.

ISAF is an international force in Afghanistan that is composed of about 32,000 troops from 37 countries.

With files from the Associated Press