Afghan officials say eight women and girls have been killed in an overnight airstrike by NATO forces in eastern Afghanistan.

Laghman provincial government spokesman Sarhadi Zewak says villagers from Alingar district brought the bodies to the governor's office on Sunday. He says the women were out gathering firewood before dawn when they were targeted by the planes. He said a number of other women were wounded and being treated in area hospitals.

Provincial health director Latif Qayumi says seven injured females were brought to the hospitals for treatment, some of them as young as 10 years old.

NATO forces spokesman Jamie Graybeal says they are investigating the allegations but that initial reports showed that only insurgents were killed in the airstrike.