Afghanistan's government is investigating reports of civilian deaths in a US air strike, despite the US military saying only armed men were killed in the Sunday attack.
A government team had been sent to the central province of Uruzgan to investigate and could provide an initial report later on Thursday, Interior Minister Ali Ahmad Jalali told a news briefing.
Provincial officials say 11 civilians - including women and children - were killed in a US air strike on the village of Sawghataq in the province's Charcheno district.
The US military has said five armed men were killed in the strike after leaving a compound where mid-level leaders of the former Taleban regime had gathered.
It described the report of civilian deaths as Taleban "misinformation". Jalali said "terrorists" were killed but details of the attack were not clear.
"Issues such as how many people have been killed in it, whether civilians were amongst them, are not known. The situation is not clear," he told reporters.
"I am hopeful that the team can give its primary observation today," he said, adding that its findings would be revealed once the investigation was complete.
Uruzgan's governor Jan Mohammad Khan and Charcheno district chief Abdur Rahman have said four children and three women were among 11 civilians killed in the raid.
Uruzgan province was a bastion of the Taleban before the group was overthrown by US-led forces in late 2001.
Tempers flared after a US helicopter gun-ship fired on a wedding party in the province in 2002.
The Afghan government said 48 people were killed and 117 hurt in that incident. The US military eventually said 34 people were killed and 50 were wounded - most of them women and children - but said its aircraft had come under fire.
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