Villagers protested at Afghanistan’s Paktia province governor’s office yesterday, saying that a Nato air strike had killed seven civilians.

Nato claimed that Sunday night’s “precision strike” had killed “eight armed enemy combatants.”a

But hundreds of villagers brought seven bodies — including one of a 12-year-old boy — to the governor’s office, claiming that all had been collecting firewood before the strike that injured an eighth man.

“From the evidence it seems that all seven who have been killed in the air strike of the coalition forces are civilians, but this needs to be investigated more to find out why and how this incident has happened,” said deputy governor Abdul Wali Sahee.

Elsewhere, 14 Afghan troops were killed in a Taliban ambush on Sunday.

Police spokesman Kazim Kenhan said yesterday that the troops were fired upon in Sari Pul province while returning from being deployed there.

He said gun battles were still ongoing yesterday.