Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- The head of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, expressed regret Monday after more than two dozen civilians were killed in a NATO airstrike.
Twenty-seven civilians died and 14 others were wounded in the incident Sunday in the central Daikondi province, according to the Afghan Interior Ministry.
Ground forces at the scene found women and children among the casualties, the Afghan government and NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said in a joint statement.
"I have made it clear to our forces that we are here to protect the Afghan people, and inadvertently killing or injuring civilians undermines their trust and confidence in our mission. We will re-double our efforts to regain that trust."
In a statement published in Pashtun and Dari, the Afghan cabinet said it condemned "the repeated killing of civilians by NATO." An English version of the statement did not include that sentence.
Civilian casualties at the hands of U.S. and NATO troops have strained relations between Afghanistan and the United States.
In the last two weeks alone, more than 50 Afghan civilians are believed to have been killed in more than half a dozen U.S. and NATO military operations.
The coalition is also investigating reports that several Afghan policemen were accidentally killed in an airstrike in eastern Afghanistan on February 18.
McChrystal has made avoiding civilian casualties a top priority, and he has apologized to the Afghan government for recent incidents.
Meanwhile, an influential Afghan tribal leader was among 14 people killed in a suicide attack on a meeting of tribal elders on Monday in Nangarhar province's Khogyani district, Afghan police said according to Agence France-Presse.
Haji Zaman Ghamsharik was credited with bringing relative stability to Nangarhar compared to other provinces in Afghanistan's volatile eastern border region.