The incident happened in Helmand's Sangin district on July 23 when civilians crammed into a mud-built house to flee fighting between NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) troops and Taliban insurgents, Siyamak Herawi told Reuters.

Reports of civilian deaths and casualties caused by foreign troops are a major cause of friction between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his Western backers and have led to street protests.

An ISAF spokesman said the alliance had conducted operations against insurgents in the area on Friday and was investigating the reports of civilian deaths.

Confirmation of the incident by the government comes on a day when tens of thousands of classified U.S. documents published by the whistleblower group WikiLeaks cast a new light on civilians caught in what it called "the true nature of this war."

Reuters