The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said in a statement that "four to eight enemy fighters were killed" during an operation in Kunar province.

It said multiple intelligence sources provided positive identification of insurgents assembled in a known enemy area, in northeast Afghanistan.

"Intelligence intercepts indicated the hostile intent of the enemy to attack ISAF posts. Due to the remote location, ISAF called in close-air support and eliminated the enemy threat," the statement said.

But Watapour district governor, Zalmai Yousufzai, and district police chief Mirza Mohammad insisted that civilian homes were struck about 15 kilometres (nine miles) northwest of provincial capital Asadabad.

"Among the six dead were two children, a woman and three men," Yousufzai said. Seven children, a woman and six men were wounded, all of them civilians, the district governor added. The district police chief gave the same details.

Mounting civilian deaths during military operations targeting Taliban and other Islamist insurgents is one of the main sources of tension between Afghan authorities and US and NATO-led forces in Afghanistan.

An AFP reporter saw a wounded 25-year-old woman, a 14-year-old boy and two men in hospital in Asadabad.

"We were asleep and all of a sudden the roof collapsed," said 14-year-old Zakirullah, who gave only one name.

"I don't remember anything. I got to know here that my father, my mother, my brother and my younger sister have all been killed and I am wounded."

The woman, named Shahida, said: "We were asleep and heard a strange noise and then the roof and walls collapsed.

"The people took me out of the rubble and there are many still there. I was told nine people from my family were killed and wounded. I don't know who is dead, who is wounded and who is alive in my family."

The alliance said it was investigating the possibility that non-combatants may have been injured.

"We deeply regret any possible civilian injuries caused by our operations against the enemy," said Captain Mark Durkin, ISAF spokesman.

"We will thoroughly investigate the allegations of civilian injuries and, if found true, provide assistance to support the law-abiding people affected."

Monday's reports of civilian casualties come four days after the US military admitted that troops under its command killed four civilians during a raid in the eastern province of Khost last week.

Security forces say they do all they can to prevent such casualties and accuse militants of living among civilians and endangering their lives.

In Watapour in July 2007, local authorities said 27 civilians were killed in ISAF air strikes, along with 37 militants. The force said some ordinary villagers were killed but did not give a number.

Elsewhere in Afghanistan, two roadside bombs killed six civilians on Monday.

One bomb ripped through a civilian truck in the Adraskan district of Herat province killing four civilians on board and wounding another three, the Afghan interior ministry said.

Another roadside bomb blast killed two private construction workers in the Bak district of eastern Khost province, the ministry said in a statement.

In addition the Afghan army said it killed nine insurgents and wounded another 14 during an eight-hour battle in southern Uruzgan province on Sunday, and four "terrorists" on the same day in neighbouring Helmand province.

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