At least 21 civilians were killed in southern Afghanistan this week after the U.S. military launched air strikes to help U.S. coalition soldiers battling Taliban fighters, a provincial governor said Wednesday.

The U.S. military, however, said it has no reports of civilian deaths.

Assadullah Wafa, governor of Helmand province, said the insurgents fought with U.S. special forces and Afghan soldiers about 25 kilometres north of the town of Sangin on Tuesday evening.

He said Taliban fighters entered the homes of villagers in the Sangin district during the fighting and that 21 civilians, including women and children, were killed when the U.S.-led coalition forces called in air strikes.

Maj. William Mitchell, spokesperson for the U.S.-led coalition, said the insurgents used guns, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars in the fight with U.S. troops and Afghan soldiers.

"We don't have any report of civilian casualties. There are enemy casualties — I think the number is significant," Mitchell said.

Mitchell declined to release an estimated number of casualties.

Mohammad Asif, a resident in the area, said the bombing hit five homes during the battle and U.S. troops and Afghan soldiers were preventing people from going into the area. He said he thought as many as 38 people were killed and 20 more wounded.

The U.S. military said the battle killed one coalition soldier, but it declined to release the soldier's nationality.

Sangin, in the heart of Afghanistan's opium poppy region, has seen heavy fighting in recent weeks. NATO-led forces have been fighting Taliban insurgents in the Sangin Valley since the end of April.

The Sangin Valley offensive is part of Operation Achilles, NATO's largest-ever manoeuvre against the Taliban, which began in March.

The operation is focused on clearing northern areas of Helmand province of insurgents so that reconstruction can begin and the authority of the Afghan government can be extended.

Across Afghanistan, anger is rising over the growing number of civilian deaths at the hands of coalition forces.

On Tuesday in Kabul, Afghanistan's upper house of parliament passed a bill calling for talks with the Taliban to end the ongoing conflict.

The bill also calls for an end to international military operations against the Taliban when efforts to begin such talks get going.

If a military operation against the Taliban is absolutely necessary, the bill says it should be carried out jointly with the Afghan national army and police and in consultation with the Afghan government.

The bill must be approved by the country's lower house of parliament and signed by Afghan President Hamid Karzai before it becomes law.

Canada has more than 2,000 soldiers stationed in Afghanistan, the majority in the southern province of Kandahar.

Fifty-four Canadian soldiers and one diplomat have been killed since Canada first sent troops to the troubled country in early 2002.

With files from the Associated Press