Afghanistan’s government has condemned a Nato air strike on a convoy of vehicles in the south of the country, which killed at least 27 civilians.
Nato said it had hit a suspected insurgent convoy, but troops then found “a number of individuals killed and wounded”, including women and children.
Sunday’s attack, in Uruzgan province, was not part of a major Nato-led push in neighbouring Helmand province.
Civilian deaths in strikes have caused widespread resentment in Afghanistan.
After initial reports put the death-toll at 33, a revised statement lowered the figure to 27, including four women and one child.
Meanwhile, a suicide attack in the eastern province of Nangahar has killed at least 15 people including influential Afghan tribal chief Mohammad Haji Zaman.
Correspondents say the former mujahideen warlord played an important role in fighting the Taliban and al-Qaeda in 2001 but was suspected of having allowed Osama Bin Laden to flee to Pakistan.
The Afghan government condemned Sunday’s air strike, calling it “unjustifiable” and “a major obstacle” to effective counter-terrorism efforts.
The cabinet also called on Nato “to closely co-ordinate and exercise maximum care before conducting any military operation so that any possible mistakes that may result in harming civilians… can be avoided”.
Nato has launched an enquiry into the attack, and the commander of the international forces in Afghanistan, Gen Stanley McChrystal, has apologised to Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
Last year, Gen McChrystal introduced much tougher rules of engagement in a bid to minimise such casualties.
The BBC’s Chris Morris in Kabul says three vehicles on a road were hit by the strike on Sunday morning.
A Nato statement said it was thought the convoy contained Taliban insurgents on their way to attack Afghan and foreign military forces.
But the governor of Uruzgan province told the BBC all of the dead were civilians. He said the air strike took place in an area which is under Taliban control.
Uruzgan province is where the Dutch mission to Afghanistan has been based since 2006, with nearly 2,000 service personnel.
Over the weekend, the Dutch government collapsed over disagreements in the governing coalition on extending deployments in Afghanistan beyond August this year.
Our correspondent says the strike was not linked to the Nato-led Operation Moshtarak which is continuing in Helmand province, to the south of Uruzgan.
Last week, 12 civilians died in that offensive – whose name means “together” in Dari – when ground-launched rockets hit a home.
About 15,000 Nato and Afghan troops are involved in Moshtarak, now in its second week, and the largest operation since the Taliban were overthrown in 2001.
The head of US Central Command, Gen David Petraeus, said on Sunday the operation, part of a revised strategy for combating insurgents, would probably last up to 18 months.
