At least eight people were killed in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar today in a suicide car bombing against Nato troops and subsequent gunfire by soldiers.
Three civilians died when the bomber struck a military convoy and five more were shot by troops afterwards, police and witnesses said.
Nato said three of its soldiers were wounded in the attack for which the Taliban claimed responsibility.
Asked about the accounts of troops shooting civilians, Nato spokesman Major Luke Knittig said: "We will establish the facts. It is still unclear in what way the troops reacted."
Both Nato and US-led coalition troops are stationed in Kandahar, the heartland of the Taliban insurgency. The insurgency has been stepped up this year, including a dramatic increase in suicide attacks, previously almost unheard of in Afghanistan.
Two Canadian soldiers were killed in a suicide car bombing in Kandahar last week.
Almost 4,000 people, about a quarter of them civilians, have been killed in fighting this year, the bloodiest since US-led forces ousted the Taliban's hardline government in 2001.