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JABAR, Afghanistan - A coalition airstrike destroyed a mud-brick home, killing nine people from four generations of an Afghan family during a clash between Western troops and militants, Afghan officials and relatives said Monday.

It was the second report in two days of civilian deaths at the hands of Western forces. On Sunday, U.S. Marines fired on cars and pedestrians as they fled a suicide attack. Up to 10 Afghans died in that violence, and President Hamid Karzai condemned the killings.

Both times, the U.S military blamed militants for putting innocent lives in danger.

But Karzai has repeatedly pleaded for Western troops to show more restraint amid concern that civilian deaths shake domestic support for the foreign military involvement that the president needs to prop up his weak government -- increasingly under threat from a resurgent Taliban.

In the latest incident, militants late Sunday fired on a U.S. base in Kapisa province, just north of Kabul, prompting the airstrike on Jabar village.

The strike hit a civilian home, killing four women, four children between the ages of 6 months and 5 years, and one elderly man, said Gulam Nabi, a relative of the victims.

Sayad Mohammad Dawood Hashimmi, Kapisa deputy governor, confirmed the nine deaths, as did an Interior Ministry official in Kabul, who asked not to be identified because the ministry had not yet prepared a statement.

A U.S. military statement said two men with automatic rifles were seen heading into a compound of five homes after a rocket attack on a U.S. base in the area.

"These men knowingly endangered civilians by retreating into a populated area while conducting attacks against coalition forces," said Lt. Col. David Accetta, a U.S. military spokesman. "We observed the men entering a compound and that compound was targeted and hit by an airstrike."

The statement said coalition forces "dropped two 2,000-pound bombs" on the compound after a rocket was fired at the base and armed militants were seen moving into the compound. The U.S. base in Kapisa is about 50 miles northeast of Kabul, the capital.

An AP reporter at the scene said a large mud home in a compound of five buildings was destroyed, leaving only bits of mud.

Among those killed were Gulam Nabi's parents, his sister, his nephew, and four of the extended family's youngest children.

The news of the airstrike came a day after wounded Afghans and witnesses said U.S. Marines fired on civilians after a suicide bombing in eastern Nangahar province. The violence, that left up to 10 Afghans dead and 34 wounded, sparked angry anti-U.S. demonstrations by hundreds of Afghan men.

A U.S. official called The Associated Press on Monday to say that military authorities believe Sunday's suicide bombing was a "clearly planned, orchestrated attack" that included enemy fire on the convoy and a pre-planned demonstration.

The official, who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter, said authorities believed that criminal elements orchestrated the attack and demonstration and that it was related to ongoing Afghan efforts to eradicate the region's profitable opium poppy crop.

He said there was "no doubt in the minds of Marines on the ground that they were being fired on." The official said Afghan casualties could have been caused by militants or by U.S. gunfire.

However, two senior provincial Afghan officials who also asked not to be named said they had found no evidence to corroborate the U.S. military's claim that militants fired on the Americans. An AP reporter who spoke to more than a dozen witnesses could not find anyone who said they saw or heard incoming militant gunfire.

Akhtyar Gul, who ran outside his home after the suicide bombing, said he saw American troops firing in many directions, and that some bullets struck the wall of his home. He said he saw a woman working in a nearby field struck by American gunfire.

"There was nobody on the street, nobody on the road to fire on the Americans," said Gul. "The only firing that came toward us was from these American vehicles."

The U.S. official also questioned how a large demonstration could materialize so quickly, suggesting it had been planned. But witnesses said the demonstration occurred more than 3 miles west of the bombing and only after the U.S. convoy had driven by shooting at civilian cars and pedestrians.

"We didn't know about the suicide attack, because the attack was miles away from us," said Haji Gul Batikoti, 25.

He said no one encouraged the Afghans to demonstrate.

"Ten minutes after the vehicles left, all the angry people who were collecting the injured people and also carrying the dead bodies, they were shouting, they were very angry," he said.

A NATO airstrike hit a house during a firefight between Western troops and militants, killing nine Afghans who lived there, Afghan officials said Monday.

Militants overnight fired on a NATO base in Kapisa province, just north of Kabul, said Deputy Governor Sayad Mohammad Dawood Hashimmi. When soldiers returned fire, they hit a home, killing five women, three boys and a man, he said.

A deputy Interior Ministry spokesman also said nine civilians had been killed. He asked not to be identified because the ministry hadn't yet prepared a statement.

Maj. William Mitchell, a U.S. military spokesman, said officials were looking into the incident. The NATO base in Kapisa is staffed by U.S. forces.

The news of the airstrike came one day after wounded Afghans and witnesses said U.S. Marines fired on civilian cars and pedestrians after a frenzied escape from a suicide bomb and gunfire attack in eastern Afghanistan. The violence sparked angry anti-U.S. demonstrations by hundreds of Afghan men.

Up to 10 Afghans were killed and 34 were injured during Sunday's violence in Nangarhar province. A delegation of Afghan officials on Monday visited the site of the suicide bombing as part of investigation into the attack and its aftermath.

The back-to-back incidents of NATO or U.S. forces killing or wounding so many Afghans was likely to cause further grief in a country that has seen scores of civilians killed by international forces since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has pleaded repeatedly for Western troops to take care not to harm civilians, and in December wept during a speech lamenting civilian deaths at the hands of foreign forces.

The U.S.-based Human Rights Watch estimates that more than 100 Afghan civilians died as a result of NATO and coalition assaults in 2006. An AP tally, based on reports from Afghan, NATO and coalition officials, puts the overall civilian death toll in 2006 at 834, most from militant attacks.

Lt. Col. David Accetta, the top U.S. military spokesman in Afghanistan, said gunmen may have fired on U.S. forces at multiple points during the escape Sunday. He said it was not yet clear how the casualties happened, though he left open the possibility that U.S. forces had shot civilians.

"It's not entirely clear right now if the people killed or wounded by gunfire were killed or wounded by coalition forces gunfire or enemy attackers gunfire," he said.

Nine witnesses -- including five Afghans recuperating from bullet wounds in the hospital -- told The Associated Press that U.S. forces fired indiscriminately along at least a six-mile stretch of one of eastern Afghanistan's busiest highways -- a route often filled not only with cars and trucks but Afghans on foot and bicycles.

"They were firing everywhere, and they even opened fire on 14 to 15 vehicles passing on the highway," said Tur Gul, 38, who was standing on the roadside by a gas station and was shot twice in his right hand. "They opened fire on everybody, the ones inside the vehicles and the ones on foot."

The tolls varied. The Interior Ministry said 10 people were killed, while the provincial health chief said eight died.

The U.S. military said eight civilians were killed and 34 wounded after earlier saying 16 were killed and 24 wounded. It did not explain the revised, lower death toll, saying only that the new figures were "the most accurate numbers to date." A U.S. Marine also was injured in the suicide blast.

At the Jalalabad hospital, several victims said the American convoy approached them on the highway and opened fire. As the convoy neared, many cars pulled over to the side of the road, but were still hit by gunfire.

"When we parked our vehicle, when they passed us, they opened fire on our vehicle," said 15-year-old Mohammad Ishaq, who was hit by two bullets, in his left arm and his right ear. "It was a convoy of three American Humvees. All three humvees were firing around."

Mohammad Karim, an 18-year-old employee at a hotel near the blast site, said he ran outside after the explosion and saw American forces fire a stream of bullets at a four-wheel drive vehicle.

"I ran to the vehicle to see how many people were inside. We found three dead bodies, and one wounded, but he was also in a very critical condition," he said. "All four people were from one family. The one who was wounded was about 20 years old."

The U.S. forces involved in the attack and ensuing gunfire were part of the U.S.-led coalition, not NATO's International Security Assistance Force. An official who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to release the information said the troops were Marine Special Operations Forces.