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Shaheedullah Shaheed, a spokesman for the governor of Wardak Province, said that seven civilians including one woman were killed, but villagers put the number of civilian deaths as high as 16.

  A spokesman for the international forces said an investigation was under way and that the explosion occurred after the Taliban fighters were killed. It was unclear what caused the explosion, but the villagers blamed the international forces.

  The raid took place in the Tangi Valley, a remote area of Wardak Province, a Taliban-held region that has been treacherous for Americans. In 2011 it was the site of an insurgent attack that brought down a Chinook helicopter killing all 30 Americans on board including 22 Navy Seals, the largest single loss of American troops in the 11-year war. Eight Afghan soldiers and a translator on the helicopter also died.

   In recent months, insurgents have taken a toll on the Afghan forces in the area. Thirty Afghan National Army soldiers have been killed in ambushes and explosions in the last 11 months and another 70 wounded, said Maj. Saifuddin Zaffari, the operational commander for Afghan National Army's Fourth Brigade's 3rd  Battalion, which has responsibility for  the Tangi region.

  In Sunday's raid, which occurred before dawn, a team of American and Afghan special operations forces detained a Taliban leader and then came under fire from Taliban gunmen who were hiding in a mosque. At least some of the Taliban were wearing suicide vests, which exploded during the fight, destroying the mosque, Afghan officials said.  

  "It was a joint ground operation in Hassan Khail village of Seyda Bad that killed four armed Taliban inside the mosque," Major Zaffari said.

  "Some civilians were trying to collect the bodies or to get their weapons and other ammunition when suddenly a huge explosion took place and resulted in civilian casualties but we don't know the exact numbers," he said.

  A spokesman for the international forces, Lt. Col. Hagen Messer, said that early reports from villagers that there had been an airstrike were incorrect and that it was a ground operation that killed the Taliban.

  "We also found a weapons and explosives cache and destroyed it before withdrawing," he said, adding "we are aware of reports that there may have been civilians killed."

  He added: "If there were civilians killed, it was after the operation."

  Mr. Shaheed, the governor's spokesman, said that some explosives might have remained in the mosque after the raid and that they could have exploded when the civilians rushed in.

  An elder in the area, Juma Khan, who has Taliban ties and was in the village on Sunday morning, said 16 villagers were killed and that their bodies were being prepared for burial. Of those, eight were elderly women and two were young boys from the same family.

  Zabiullah Mujahid, the Taliban spokesman for the north and east of Afghanistan, acknowledged that Taliban had been killed in the raid, but said that only two had lost their lives.