Coalition troops arrived at a tribal elder's house in eastern Logar province on Tuesday night after villagers tipped them off that Taliban commanders had been invited to a dinner.

When the fighters inside refused to surrender and opened fire on the NATO troops, soldiers called in an airstrike, levelling the house.

Now, the provincial council leader says the tribal elder and 16 of his relatives and children were killed in the strike.

Al Jazeera's Dominic Kane reports.