21 civilians have been killed in a NATO air strike in southern Afghanistan.
Most of those killed in the attack, which occurred in Sangin district of Helmand province, were women and children.
The raid was carried out by the NATO Security Assistance Force, operating alongside the Afghan military.
The civilian casualties are the latest in a string of such incidents which have angered Afghans and prompted President Hamid Karzai to tell foreign forces 'to take more care' in battle situations.
They bring the number of civilian deaths at the hands of NATO and US-led coalition troops to 90 over the past two weeks.
And an investigation is continuing into the death of over 50 civilians in an incident in the western province of Herat last month.
Separately, a suicide bomb attack in southeastern Afghanistan killed at least three people and wounded seven.
The blast occurred in a village in Paktika province, close to the border with Pakistan.
The target of the attack remains unclear as there were no military forces in the area at the time.
