Six children died in a raid in the eastern province of Paktia in Afghanistan last week, according to the US military.

The children's crushed bodies were found at a compound 20 kilometres east of Gardez, in Paktia province, the BBC quoted a US spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Bryan Hilferty, as saying in Kabul on Wednesday.

Two adults' bodies were also found when the area was searched on Saturday, he said.

The spokesman suggested that the victims were to blame for being at a site used by terrorists to store munitions.

"In this incident, if non-combatants surround themselves with thousands of weapons and hundreds of rounds of ammunition and howitzers and mortars, in a compound known to be used by a terrorist, we are not completely responsible for the consequences," he said.

The raid was launched in the belief that Mullah Jilani, a suspected militant, was staying in the compound.

The news of the deaths came shortly after the US apologised for killing nine children in a separate raid in the neighbouring province of Ghazni.