Kabul  - NATO said Saturday that its forces had to leave the dead body of an Afghan journalist behind to avoid "more casualties" after its airborne operation freed a Western journalist.

British troops raided a house Tuesday night to free Sultan Munadi, an Afghan reporter, and British-Irish national Stephen Farrell, both working for The New York Times newspaper.

Farrell was freed in the raid in the Chardarah district of Kunduz province, but Munadi was shot and killed. A British soldier and an Afghan woman also died in a firefight with the militants.

Munadi's death sparked anger in Afghanistan and an association of local journalists in Kabul criticized the military for abandoning Munadi's body.

The group called the military's treatment of Munadi's bullet-riddled body a "double-standard" and "inhumane."

"During the operation on the compound where the two hostages were being held, an extensive firefight occurred between the insurgents and the military forces," the NATO forces in Kabul said in a statement.

"After Mr Farrell was found by our forces, the death of Mr Munadi was confirmed," it said. "Under constant fire from the insurgents and to avoid receiving more casualties, the military forces extracted from the site."

The two journalists were abducted a week ago while talking to local villagers in the Chardara district following a German military-approved airstrike conducted the previous day by a US jet. The district governor said 130 people, some of them civilians, died in that attack.

The Afghan government, the United Nations and NATO are each conducting investigations in the area. (dpa)