Afghan authorities say that at least eight members of a family have been killed after an airstrike by the US-led NATO coalition in the eastern province of Paktia.

The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) coalition said it was aware of the ‘allegation’ and was investigating the incident, which happened late on Saturday night.

Rohullah Samon, a spokesman for the Paktia provincial government, said on Sunday that a man, a woman and their six children were killed in a coalition airstrike at 8pm local time (15:00 GMT) in Suri Khail village of Gurda Saria district.

A senior security official in Kabul confirmed the incident took place.

Four soldiers killed

Meanwhile, four NATO soldiers were killed in bomb blasts in the southern part of the country, ISAF said on Sunday.

The soldiers died "following separate improvised explosive device attacks" on Saturday, ISAF said in a statement, without providing further details or the nationalities of the victims.

The latest deaths take the toll for NATO troops this year to 169.

There are about 130,000 ISAF troops in Afghanistan, but they are all due to withdraw by the end of 2014.

Some countries have already begun their troop pullouts.

The Taliban have stepped up their attacks across the country since announcing the start of their spring offensive at the beginning of May.

PHOTO CAPTION

Map of Afghanistan locating Paktia province

Al-Jazeera