The latest charges of civilian casualties from foreign operations follow tensions on the issue between Kabul and Washington, its main military backer in an escalating fight against a Taliban insurgency.

The strike outside the western city of Herat on Monday targeted a "key insurgent commander" named Gholam Yahya Akbari, the US military said.

"Killed in the attack were up to 15 militants suspected of associating with Yahya," it said.

However, provincial authorities said teams sent to the area to investigate found that civilians were killed.

"The information we have states that 13 civilians have been killed in that air strike -- six women, two children and five men," said provincial government spokesman Naqibullah Arwin.

The identities of three other men killed in the same attack were unclear, the spokesman said.

"Initial information indicates that two of the three bodies could also be civilians. Apparently they were two car mechanics taken there to fix a broken car which belonged to the armed opposition," Arwin said.

Ikramuddin Yawar, police chief for western Afghanistan, earlier confirmed the deaths of six women and two children whom he said were from a nomad tribe, and were killed close to their tents.

Three men killed in the strike were militants but the identities of five others was unclear, he said.

One among the group of three had a rifle, police said.

Locals said the two others, whose remains were recovered near two gutted vehicles, were car mechanics from Herat city who were taken to the outlying Gozara district to fix a broken jeep.

At an emotional funeral in the city, Khair Mohammad said they were his brother and his assistant, and vowed revenge on the US soldiers.

"He was a mechanic and was taken there by a person to fix his car. As he arrived, US planes hit the car and killed my brother and his assistant," he said.

The US military said a combined coalition and Afghan investigation team had visited the area with international observers to find out what had happened.

"We take all reports of non-combatant casualties very seriously and investigate these claims with the assistance of our Afghan forces counterparts," spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Rick Helmer said in a statement.

The United Nations said in a report Tuesday that 2,118 Afghan civilians were killed in insurgency-linked unrest in 2008 -- 55 percent by forces fighting the government and 39 percent by pro-government forces.

There are about 38,000 US troops stationed in Afghanistan to fight the growing Taliban-led insurgency. US President Barack Obama has approved the deployment of 17,000 additional troops.

Elsewhere, the Afghan military said it killed 10 rebels in Herat's Shindand district overnight.

Karzai, who is seeking re-election later this year, visited Laghman province near Kabul to express condolences to families who lost relatives in a US-led strike in January, his office said.

The president told a crowd that new arrangements, in which the international forces agreed to involve Afghans more closely in the planning and execution of operations, should go some way towards preventing civilian casualties.

earlier related report
Kabul welcomes extra US troops, Afghans wary
Afghan officials Wednesday welcomed US President Barack Obama's decision to send 17,000 more soldiers to fight a Taliban-led insurgency here but ordinary people feared more troops would mean more attacks.

In his first major military decision since taking office in January, Obama on Tuesday agreed to the deployment "to stabilise a deteriorating situation" in Afghanistan.

"It's a positive move," Afghan defence ministry spokesman Mohammad Is'haq Payman told AFP.

"But we have our own conditions. We want these troops to be deployed in areas where they could play a positive role in suppressing terrorists," he said.

"We want them to be deployed along the border, in eastern, southeastern and southern parts of the country."

Many of the attacks in Afghanistan are carried out by militants holed up in Pakistan's lawless tribal zones who infiltrate the porous 2,400-kilometre (1,500-mile), largely mountainous border.

Payman said the US reinforcements would also allow growing Afghan security forces to concentrate on vital training instead of fighting the insurgency, which started after the Taliban were ousted from power in late 2001.

There are already about 70,000 NATO- and US-led soldiers in Afghanistan helping to fight insurgents, and train and equip the Afghan security forces, destroyed by the civil war of the 1990s. About 38,000 are US troops.

The top US military commander here, General David McKiernan, had asked for 30,000 more soldiers for the fight against an insurgency that has mounted in the seven years since the extremist regime was toppled.

His requests were still being considered as were the details of the deployment of the US reinforcements, a spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) told AFP.

The White House has said the extra soldiers would be deployed ahead of presidential and provincial council elections scheduled for August 20.

Their presence was vital for the vote, said foreign ministry spokesman Sultan Ahmad Baheen. Weak security in the south, where the insurgency is most intense, have sparked fears that the election could be jeopardised.

"These additional troops can help improve security in the country so our people vote freely," Baheen told AFP.

Prominent lawmaker Shukria Barakzai also said the reinforcements should be sent to the border with Pakistan to stop militant infiltrations.

But security depends on more than just military efforts, she said, citing the need to improve development in impoverished Afghanistan and diplomatic efforts to persuade the Taliban to lay down their arms.

"Military force alone is not enough," Barakzai said. "If these troops come without coordinating their efforts with development and diplomacy, the situation would not change."

On the streets of Kabul, residents were wary of the planned new US arrivals, fearing that they would only worsen security.

Foreign forces are the target of regular insurgent suicide bombings which kill more civilians than troops, while a spike in attacks has led to major security measures that have sealed off entire blocks of the city.

"The explosions in Kabul are because of the NATO presence here," said university student Khalid Sherzai. "More troops will mean more roads will be closed. They should leave it (security) for the Afghans and see what happens."

"Security will deteriorate even further," said another resident, Najibullah Hotak.

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