NATO admitted that it had killed Afghan civilians in an airstrike early Sunday morning , hours after saying there was no evidence of civilian deaths . `` A number of Afghan civilians were unintentionally killed or injured during this mission , '' the coalition said in a statement accepting `` full responsibility for this tragedy . '' NATO 's International Security Assistance Force `` offers its sincerest regret to the families , '' the statement said . The coalition first cast doubt on an Afghan official 's assertion that eight women were killed and seven more wounded in a coalition airstrike Sunday morning in Laghman province . As the day went on , ISAF changed its line , saying it was aware of the incident and the allegations . It finally admitted that the Afghan report was correct . NATO releases details of brazen raid on base in Afghanistan . Afghan official Abdul Khaliq Husaine had said women normally go out to collect wood in the night , and that they came under attack in the early hours of Sunday morning . The incident took place in the province 's Alingar district . Sarhadi Zwak , a provincial spokesman , also said civilians had been killed , and that the airstrike was carried out without coordination with Afghan officials . Earlier , ISAF said it had been targeting `` a large group of insurgents '' in the province , east of the capital Kabul . It identified the group of about 45 as hostile , and attacked with `` precision munitions and direct fire , '' said spokesman James Graybeal . The strikes `` killed a large number of the insurgents and forced the group to depart , '' he said . Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahed said the strike killed more than 20 civilians , and condemned the attack . The Taliban frequently exaggerates death tolls . Civilian casualties in the war between coalition forces and militants have generated grass-roots anger toward the combatants , and ISAF has been working for years to tackle the problem . Separate 'insider ' attack kills troops .
ISAF admits causing the deaths after an earlier denial that civilians were killed . An Afghan official says the victims were women gathering wood at the early hours of Sunday morning . NATO has been working for the day to tackle civilian casualties .