Under the program, residents have formed a kind of auxiliary police force to try to keep the insurgents from overrunning remote villages.
The latest bloodshed coincided with a major U.S. military offensive in the southern province of Helmand, which is a center of both the insurgency and the drug trade and is considered one of the most dangerous parts of the country.
In the last week, about 4,000 U.S. Marines have secured the lower Helmand River valley, and commanders say they plan to hold the territory with a string of new outposts and a concerted effort to reach out to mistrustful tribal elders and village leaders.
British, Canadian and Dutch troops also are fanned out across much of the south, and their casualties have increased in the last few weeks. An increase in troop fatalities usually occurs during the summer months, when insurgents are better able to move through mountain passes on the border with Pakistan, bringing in fighters and weapons.
American military officials have warned that the greater numbers of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, which will swell to 68,000 by year's end, would probably bring a commensurate increase in combat casualties.
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laura.king@latimes.com
Special correspondent M. Karim Faiez contributed to this report.
