The US military says 16 civilians were killed following an ambush on a US convoy in Afghanistan.
The incident occurred on the road from the eastern city of Jalalabad to Pakistan, when a suicide bomber drove a minibus containing explosives at the convoy.
One member of the US force was wounded.
The US soldiers were then attacked from several directions and returned fire in self-defence, US sources said.
But local people reported that the US forces had fired on civilians. Thousands of people gathered to protest at the incident.
Two British soldiers serving with Nato forces were killed during combat operations in the south of the country yesterday.
The British Ministry of Defence said the soldiers were killed during combat operations in the Sangin area of the war-torn Helmand province.
