The US military has conceded that a raid this week by troops under its command in Afghanistan killed a group of civilians who were defending their home, not militants as it had earlier reported.
The killing of civilians by foreign forces is the biggest source of tension between the Afghan government and its Western backers. While NATO has tightened its procedures, the latest incident shows the problem is far from solved.
Investigations showed that during an operation by US and Afghan forces in the southeastern province of Khost late on Wednesday, a local family near the target location had opened fire on the troops, the military said in a statement late yesterday.
"The combined forces returned fire, killing two males, two females and wounding two females. There are reports of an infant also killed," the statement said.
"Coalition and Afghan forces do not believe that this family was involved with militant activities and that they were defending their home against an unknown threat," it added.
A witness at the village after the raid saw the body of a seven-day-old boy who died during the raid.
International aid group Care said in a statement that one of the victims was a female teacher working in a school it supports. It said the four others killed were members of her family, including two children. One was a student in her class.
The United States said it regretted the deaths.
Some 2,100 civilians were killed in Afghanistan last year, a third of them by Afghan and international troops, the United Nations says.
Reuters