At least six Afghan civilians have been killed and seven others injured in a US airstrike in Afghanistan's central province of Uruzgan.
Many of the casualties in the night raid on a village in Charcheno district were women and children, a local government official said.
A local police officer, said six people had died and seven were injured but US military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Bryan Hilferty said he was unaware of any civilian casualties.
He said US planes had pounded suspected Taliban positions in the area in retaliation for the killing of two US soldiers on Thursday. But he said the attacks were on Friday morning not Friday night as reported locally.
Lt-Col Hilferty said US and Afghan National Army soldiers came under fire on Thursday while on patrol in a village in Uruzgan's Tarin Kot district.
The incidents came amid a stepped up hunt for Taliban and al Qaeda militants, including Osama bin Laden, in southern and eastern Afghanistan launched on March 7th and codenamed "Mountain Storm".
The United States has been criticised by many Afghans and rights groups for inflicting civilian casualties and the United Nations has called for details of investigations into such incidents to be made public.