An Afghan official says that about 25 people may have been killed in a NATO airstrike in southern Afghanistan.

NATO officials confirm there has been an airstrike in Helmand province Monday but say initial reports indicate that there were no civilian casualties.

The head of Helmand's provincial council Fazal Bari gave the 25 figure and says local officials tell him many bodies are still in the rubble of the building and casualty figures could rise.

He says the dead were inside a mosque in Baghran district but NATO says it has no reports of a mosque being struck.