Villagers Say 18 Civilians Killed in Nato Air Strike in Afghanistan

British defence officials said last night they were investigating reports that civilians, including women and children, were killed in an air strike by Nato forces in southern Afghanistan.

Angry villagers took 18 bodies - including badly mangled bodies of women and children - to the governor's house in the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah, Haji Adnan Khan, a tribal leader in the city who had seen the bodies, was reported as saying. He said there might be more bodies trapped under the rubble.

A BBC reporter in Lashkar Gah said he saw the bodies - three women and the rest children ranging in age from six months to 15. The families brought the bodies from their village in the Nad Ali district.

In London the MoD said it was aware of an air strike in Helmand province "in support of ANSF [Afghan special forces] and ISAF [Nato-led] troops. This incident is being investigated and at this time we are unable to confirm any civilian casualties. However we take any reports of civilian casualties extremely seriously."

The incident comes days after a British military spokesman said that Nato aircraft had killed more than 60 Taliban fighters massing to attack Lashkar Gah.

The growing number of civilian deaths in air strikes has provoked friction between Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, and Nato countries. Britain recently raised the issue with the US, and Nato military commanders were ordered to change their rules of engagement.

After the Afghan government said 90 civilians were killed during a US special forces raid in a village in the western Herat province in August, Karzai also ordered a review of US and Nato tactics.

A British soldier from the Household Cavalry who was killed when the armored off-road vehicle he was driving hit a mine in Afghanistan, was named last night as Trooper James Munday, 21, from the Birmingham area.