The Agency Coordinating Body For Afghan Relief (ACBAR), which groups nearly 100 foreign and Afghan NGOs, accused troops fighting Taliban and other insurgents of "excessive use of force and abusive raids."

It also said they acted on false or inaccurate information.

The criticism came after seven children were killed in an air strike by US-led coalition war planes on a suspected Al-Qaeda compound in eastern Afghanistan late Sunday.

The strike, for which the coalition apologised saying it had no idea children were there, was the latest in a series of incidents in which troops have killed civilians.

"NGO reports and data indicate that since the beginning of 2007 international and Afghan government forces have been responsible for the deaths of a minimum of 230 civilians including at least 60 women and children," it said.

"Over the same period a further 14 civilians have been killed for simply driving or walking too close to international military personnel or vehicles."

The foreign forces warn civilians who come to close to keep away but the warnings are sometimes not understood or heeded.

"Initial goodwill towards the international military presence in 2002 has substantially diminished in many parts of the country," said ACBAR, which has been in Afghanistan for nearly 20 years.

It said cases of civilian casualties must be properly investigated and "timely and appropriate compensation" should be paid and apologies made when necessary.

Accurate figures of civilian casualties should be compiled and published, and the military forces here -- including all US units -- should agree on common standards of operation, it said.

Human Rights Watch says around 1,000 civilians were killed in insurgency-linked violence in Afghanistan last year, about 230 of them in military action.