"Massive battles were reported to have killed more than 100 people in southern Afghanistan in the past three days, as officials revealed that seven children had died when their religious school was bombed by the United States-led coalition....It also emerged that in an operation backed by Afghan troops on the same day, coalition jets targeted a compound that also contained a mosque and a madrassa, or Islamic school, in the Zarghun Shah district of eastern Paktika province. Coalition forces claimed that "nefarious activity was occurring at the site". The statement gave no indication what such nefarious activity might be, however, a military spokesman later claimed that al-Qa'ida had been using the mosque and civilians to hide behind - a claim for which no evidence was provided. At least seven children were killed. "We are saddened by the innocent lives that were lost as a result of militants' cowardice," said the spokesman, Major Chris Belcher. He said that troops had "surveillance on the compound all day and saw no indications there were children inside the building". Another spokesman, Sgt Dean Welch, added: "If we knew that there were children inside the building, there was no way that that air strike would have occurred.""