Kabul - Residents in eastern Afghanistan said Wednesday that dozens of civilians were killed in a US military airstrike, while coalition forces claimed that the raids killed several militants and four civilians.

The attack took place in Mata Khan District in south-eastern province of Paktika near the border with Pakistan on Tuesday night, the military and local sources said.

"The US aircrafts bombed several houses in Ebrahim Kariz village and killed around 40 civilians," Haji Mangal, a tribal elder in the area told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

"First the military forces bombed the area and then descended soldiers from helicopters", Mangal said, adding that the dead included several women and children.

Nabi Jan Mullahkhel also confirmed the incident and said that several militants including one of their commanders and a number of civilians were killed in the raids, but could not give any figures.

The US military said its forces killed several Taliban militants and detained 12 others during the overnight operation in Mata Khan district.

The operation also left four civilians including three women and a child dead, while another civilian was wounded, the US military said in a statement.

It said that the operation, in which ground forces and airstrikes were used, targeted two militant leaders, who were involved in roadside attacks and foreign fighter operations.

The statement said that civilians were killed after the militants attacked the combined forces from inside compounds and a barricaded room.

Due to the remoteness of the area it was difficult to verify the exact death tolls of insurgents and civilians in the area.

Civilian casualties have become a sensitive issue for the Western-backed Afghan government as many officials have warned that the mounting civilian death would erode the public support for their central government.

The combined forces also discovered multiple rocket launchers, rocket-propelled grenades, assault rifles, grenades, ammunition vests, ammunition and other weapons in the compounds, it added.

More than 1,500 people - mostly insurgents and civilians - have been killed in the fighting so far this year, while a quarter of some 8,000 people who died in violence last year were also noncombatants. (dpa)