Civilians die in Afghan violence

The US-led coalition says its soldiers have killed 25 militants and eight civilians in the southern Afghan province of Uruzgan.

A statement said troops were ambushed and called in air strikes, unaware that civilians were in a building bombed.

In Kabul, a suicide bomber targeting foreign troops killed at least one civilian and wounded many others, the Nato-led force said.

There is growing concern at civilian casualties in Afghanistan.

International forces are being increasingly criticised for civilian deaths in their operations.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has urged the US and Nato to try harder to avoid killing civilians, as support for his government is being undermined.

'Human shields'

The violence in Uruzgan took place when militants launched multiple ambushes on coalition troops, the statement released by the US-led force said.

The militants are then said to have fled to a neighbouring compound where they held 11 civilians hostage, including several children and an infant.

They then attacked the coalition soldiers using small arms and rocket propelled grenades.

Coalition troops called in air support and eyewitnesses say they dropped a bomb on the compound, leading to militant and civilian casualties.

The BBC's Sanjoy Majumder in Kabul says there has been growing concern in Afghanistan about the increased number of civilians deaths during operations such as these.

But the coalition argues that civilians are often used as human shields by the Taleban and other militants who hold them against their will.

'Utter disregard'

The Kabul suicide attack occurred on the city's outskirts on the road to the eastern city of Jalalabad, police said.

Attacks in and around Kabul are on the rise

They put the death toll at three, according to initial reports.

An eyewitness told the BBC: "I saw a convoy of foreign solders getting attacked. I saw some blood on the streets and than the police blocked the road."

The International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) said one of its convoys had been targeted. At least 17 civilians were injured.

"The attack also injured a small number of Isaf soldiers," a statement from the Nato-led force said.

"This attacker's target might have been Isaf soldiers, but he only succeeded in proving the insurgents' utter disregard for the lives of the Afghan people."