The children were killed during a joint Afghan-NATO operation in the Shigal district of restive Kunar province bordering Pakistan late on Saturday.
"Ten children and eight militants were killed in the strike, six women were wounded," Wasifullah Wasifi, the spokesman for Kunar province, told AFP.
Shigal district governor Abdul Zahir confirmed the death toll and said people had brought the children's bodies to the centre of the town. The wounded women were taken to Kunar's central hospital, he said.
An Afghan official involved in the operation who declined to be named said the air support was called in after local and coalition forces came under attack, resulting in the death of an American and injuries to several Afghans.
The official said the force did not know there were women and children in the houses that were hit.
Civilian casualties caused by NATO forces have been one of the most contentious issues in the campaign against Taliban insurgents, provoking harsh criticism from President Hamid Karzai and angry public protests.
Sayed Rahman, security commander of Shigal, said one women was also among the dead. "We have reports that 10 children and one woman have been killed in the air strike," he said.
A spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) confirmed the strike, but said up to 10 women and children were wounded in the attack rather than killed.
A US civilian died in a militant attack at the spot, he said.
The interior ministry said in a statement the attack by coalition forces killed six Taliban including two senior commanders.
A NATO air strike on Thursday killed four Afghan police and two civilians in Ghazni province.
That attack happened after Taliban insurgents raided a local police post before dawn and NATO planes were called in to support the officers.
COMMENTS (18)
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If those were American kids, we'd have nuclear war by now.
Millions of innocent people have died in these wars. Senseless killing continues. Stop wars, please.
@cautious: Good one cautious. I think that you are really saying that when the US .makes a mistake and kills many innocent children, which is the norm, they only have to come up with the excuse that Taliban were in the region so everything should be forgiven. After 12 years and repeated mistakes which have killed many hundreds, perhaps thousands of children, some people are not buying it.
Now how shamelessly and silently the muslim world's leaders are seeing all this and are considering that there is nothing going to happen before them and the dead-conscience muslim world's leaders' dead conscience and their human sympathy shall wake up from the dreams of carelessness when their children shall be killed in the attacks.Now the other children's are being killed this is why they are seeing all this like the silent,shameless and conscienceless spectators....... Now the whole world's main focus is Malala and on Malala's names various projects are being started in Pakistan and in a US' school few children were killed by a gunman who later attempted suicide the whole world and US stood and criticized and now almost daily many children and women are being killed in Afghanistan by the brutal,cruel,barbarians and wild beasts US' and NATO's forces but shamelessly the whole muslim world is silent and seeing all this inner blindly.....
Must be a conspiracy theory. We all know NATO is spreading nothing but human rights and democracy.
So what, they were not Malala.
NATO kills children, women, civilians, anyone with a Muslim name is Legal for them. Who cares ?? Not even the governments of those killed !! The world has gone crazy and is being ruled by killers.
What do all the taliban apologists have to say about the fact that those cowards used those civilians as a human shield? Jihadi warfare doesn't make a distinction between dirty and ethical fighting. Civilians are routinely used as cover in Israel and Kashmir too.
Was the strike called in by NATO forces or by the Afghans?
@A2Z:
Not so fast: The fate of millions is in the hands of young Kim, whose missiles are ready to strike at south Kore as well as the USA fobases in the region! Fidel was asking for revolution not military assault and has requested Kim to slow down, give the chance to Chuck Hagel and John Kerry, two moses to get their marines home.
Rex Minor
@Babablacksheep...So it is perfectly alright to kill children and innocent because Taliban have also killed them...What a senseless logic by you morons
So Taliban including hold up in a civilian house and start a firefight against Afghan/coalition forces who call in airstrike which results in the death of six Taliban and injuries to civilians. And based on the comments the the bad guys are NATO? Where here's a different perspective - the bad guys are the Taliban who essentially use civilians as shields. If the TTP were firing on Pakistan troops from civilian housing the Pakistani troops would return fire - it's called self defense in the rest of the World.
sad!! but not so sad because taliabn and banned out fits has killed more children and women in Pakistan
Don't say NATO killed those children because it is impossible for a humanist liberation force like NATO to do kill anyone. NATO has effecitvely liberated these 10 children from the clutches of evil Taliban.
Millions have been killed on the name of War on terror and WMD. Now the terrorists are going for another war against North Korea
If this article read 'Bomb blast kills 10 children in America', it would get millions of hits and an outcry of condemnation from the 'international community'.
But, since its Afghani children (-1 point) killed by NATO (-2 point) and not by Taliban. Meh, it's just collateral damage, who cares, they're blood isn't real blood.
This is a war AGAINST terror?! This war has caused more terror than any of us in the region can remember! The world needs to WAKE UP and make America and its allies stop!!!
The series of collateral murders go on! Mr Ban ki Moon is apparently living on the moon, chatting on skype with young MALALA, and ignoring the plight of thousands others in the region whose loved ones are compensated by NATO with $10,000 each.
Rex Minor