At least 10 Afghan civilians², including eight schoolchildren, have been killed in fighting involving Western troops, President Hamid Karzai has said.

阿富汗总统哈米德·卡尔扎伊称，在西方军队涉及的战斗中至少10名平民被杀，其中包括8名小学生在内。

Kunar province is remote and dominated by the Taliban

Mr Karzai said the deaths occurred during military operations in eastern Kunar province two days ago.

Kunar governor Sayed Fazlullah Wahedi told the Reuters路透社 news agency officials could not visit the area "because of the presence of the Taliban".

Nato said it had no record of operations or deaths in the area.

A brief statement from Mr Karzai's office said initial最初的 reports indicated the civilians had died in "a series of operations by international forces" on Saturday.

It said he "strongly condemns³ the operation which caused civilian¹ deaths and has appointed a delegation⁴ to investigate the incident".

The AFP法新社 news agency quoted a senior Afghan official as saying the death toll死亡人数 could change as investigations⁷ take place.

An unnamed Western official told AFP that US special forces had been conducting operations in the area, close to the border with Pakistan, and had killed and captured "a lot of Taliban".

He said the operations were being carried out independently of the Nato-led and coalition⁸ forces联军 in Afghanistan.

Remote

Civilian deaths at the hands of foreign troops have led to widespread anger among Afghans.

Mr Karzai has previously⁹ said such deaths are damaging to the fight against militancy战斗性，交战状态.

The BBC's Peter Greste in Kabul says Kunar province is remote, snowbound被雪封住的 and dominated by the Taliban, so the investigation⁶ into Saturday's alleged¹⁰ incident will be difficult.

But if the civilians deaths are confirmed, it will be a blow to Gen Stanley McChrystal, the commander of Nato forces in Afghanistan, who has vowed¹¹ to limit such casualties, says our correspondent.

Also on Monday, militants¹² were reported to have stormed a police checkpoint in north-western Badghis province.

Two police officers were killed and three are missing, said local officials.