US-led airstrike leaves seven children dead

The US-led coalition and Afghan troops have apologised after they launched airstrikes against a compound suspected of housing al-Qaida militants in eastern Afghanistan, killing seven children and several militants.

"We are saddened by the innocent lives that were lost as a result of militants' cowardice," said Major Chris Belcher, a coalition spokesman.

A coalition statement said today that the strike occurred as a suicide bomber blew himself up on a police academy bus in Kabul, killing at least 35 people, in the deadliest insurgent attack in Afghanistan since the US-led invasion in 2001.

Coalition and Afghan troops launched the airstrike yesterday on a compound that also contained a mosque and a madrassa, or Islamic school, in the Zarghun Shah district of Paktika Province, a coalition statement said.

"Coalition forces confirmed the presence of nefarious activity occurring at the site before getting approval to conduct an air strike on the location," the statement said.

Early reports said seven children at the madrassa were killed in the strike and that "several militants" also were killed, the coalition statement said.

Two suspected militants were also detained.