Dai Chopan, Afghanistan ? Villagers with broken limbs, deep cuts and severe bruises say Afghan militia fighters working as guides for U.S. troops went on a spree of looting, beatings and torture here during a military sweep last week.

The militiamen frequently guide the Americans on missions to search for Taliban and al-Qaida guerrillas. They wear U.S. military camouflage fatigues and carry assault rifles.

None of about 50 villagers who described abuses in interviews, or who were questioned at an elders meeting, said U.S. forces witnessed the assaults or thefts during the search for Taliban guerrillas. A U.S. military spokesman said he had no reports of unprofessional conduct by militias operating under U.S. control.

But villagers here tell another story. Militiamen broke a woman’s shoulder with a rifle butt and tortured her two adult sons until they blacked out, one son said in an interview Saturday. The other son had not regained consciousness.

Others described assaults and systematic looting by militia fighters during a weeklong operation in Dai Chopan. The militiamen, loyal to warlords in Kandahar, about 70 miles southwest of here, complain that their commanders rarely pay them. They apparently were intent on seizing whatever they could from people living in what they regard as hostile territory. They allegedly stole cash, jewelry, watches, radios, three motorcycles — even the mud-brick school’s windows and doors — before leaving with U.S. and Afghan troops Saturday.

“These people are robbing us, torturing us and beating us,” said Sultan Mohammed, a village elder. “They are also taking innocent people to jail.”

U.S. troops have conducted three search operations in the village over the past several months, said Mohammed, 50, the village elder. Each time, he said, they brought the militia fighters, who followed Americans’ orders during house-to-house searches and arrests and — each time — beat and robbed villagers.

Afghan militia members “are placed under the (U.S.-led) coalition’s tactical control from time to time” but are released to their normal militia commanders “upon completion of a pre-determined action or time period,” said Col. Rodney Davis, the U.S. military’s chief spokesman at Bagram air base, north of Kabul.

“The coalition is reasonably sure — virtually certain Afghan militia forces conduct themselves in a professional manner while operating under coalition control and we’ve had no reports to the contrary,” Davis added.