KABUL, Sept 16: Nato was accused of killing eight women on Sunday, capping a weekend which saw six soldiers shot dead by presumed Afghan colleagues and a Taliban assault cause unprecedented losses on one of the biggest military bases in the country.

The US-led International Security Assistance Force initially said an air strike targeted about 45 militants, but later extended its “deepest regrets and sympathies” over “civilians who died or were injured” in Laghman province.

Such incidents have strained ties between the United States and Afghan President Hamid Karzai. In June, Isaf ordered an end to air strikes on homes, except as a last resort.

Sunday’s attack came shortly before dawn, in Alingar district in the province east of Kabul, as women set off to collect firewood, said a local official.

“In this raid, eight women are killed and another eight women are wounded,” provincial spokesman Sarhadi Zwak said.

Tribesmen carried bodies to the provincial capital Mihtarlam, shouting “death to America, death to the Jews” outside the governor's office, a reporter said.

Mr Karzai condemned the killing. Seven other women were wounded and a delegation had been asked to travel to the remote area to investigate, his office said.

Isaf said “a number of Afghan civilians were unintentionally killed or injured” in the strike done “solely with the intent of countering known insurgents”.

In Zabul province, part of the south where the 10-year Taliban militancy is traditionally strongest, four US soldiers were shot dead and two wounded after being scrambled to help police repel an ‘insurgent attack’, officials said.

Details of the incident were murky.

Isaf spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Hagen Messer said the shooting happened at around 1am but that it was still unclear whether the attacker “was an individual wearing a police uniform or definitely a policeman”.

“Three to four other policemen have disappeared. At the moment, we don’t know where they have gone. We don’t know if they fled fearing arrest or if they are linked to the Taliban,” a provincial official said on condition of anonymity.

Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi denied that the militia planned the attack.

Sunday’s deaths took to 51 the number of western soldiers killed by Afghan colleagues in 36 incidents so far this year, in a growing trend that jeopardises Nato plans to train local forces to take over when they leave in 2014.

Two British soldiers were killed on Saturday in the province of Helmand by a man wearing the uniform of the Afghan Local Police.—AFP