KABUL: Seven members of the Afghan security forces were killed in a Nato air strike in remote western Afghanistan, the defence ministry said on Saturday.

‘Due to a Nato forces air strike on November 6 in Badghis province seven Afghan security personnel (both Afghan army and national police) were martyred and also some were wounded,’ the ministry said in a statement.

‘The commando brigade informs us that foreign forces also sustained some casualties,’ it said, adding ‘The issue is under investigation by Afghan and Nato forces and the results will be announced soon.’

The statement comes as Nato's International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) said it was investigating a Friday incident in Badghis in which more than 25 members of international and Afghan forces were wounded.

Earlier, an Isaf spokesman said that five US soldiers were wounded during a search operation for two American troops who went missing in western Afghanistan this week.

The five are believed to have been among more than 25 Isaf and Afghan troops injured by what a military official said anonymously was friendly fire.

However, Isaf spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Todd Vician, of the US Air Force, told AFP: ‘We have nothing to confirm friendly fire.’

‘No Isaf members were killed,’ he said, when confirming that the five injured Isaf soldiers were Americans.

Investigations into Friday's incident, believed to have happened in Badghis province, were ongoing and no further details were available, he said.