U.S. military apologizes for deaths of 13 Afghan civilians in strike

In an unprecedented move, the Defense Department released a photo Saturday of a U.S. general hugging an Afghan man after admitting that an American air strike killed 13 civilians.

Brig. Gen. Michael Ryan visited a village near Herat Province in western Afghanistan last week to investigate Tuesday's "precision strike," which U.S. military officials initially said killed 15 militants.

Afghan villagers disputed that claim.

Ryan visited the site and determined that three militants were killed - along with 13 civilians.

Civilian casualties have increasingly angered Afghan leaders and strained relations with U.S. officials.

A recent United Nations report found that 2,118 civilians have died there in the past year - a 40% increase over 2007 and more than in any year since the war began in 2001.

Of those, 829 were blamed on NATO and Afghan forces, 552 were caused by air strikes and 1,160 were killed by militants.

On Friday, Ryan met with the families of the victims of Tuesday's air strike and apologized.

"We expressed our deepest condolences to the survivors of the noncombatants who were killed during this operation," he said.

"Our concern is for the security of the Afghan people," he said, adding that U.S. forces would coordinate future attacks with the Afghan military.

sgaskell@nydailynews.com