President Hamid Karzai strongly condemned on Saturday a coalition airstrike that he said killed up to 95 Afghans — including 50 children — in a village in western Afghanistan on Friday, and said his government would be announcing measures to prevent the loss of civilian life in the future.

Government officials who traveled to the village of Azizabad in Herat Province on Saturday said the death toll had risen to 95 from 76, making it one of the deadliest airstrikes on civilians in nearly seven years of war.

“This puts us in a very difficult position,” said a government official, who asked not to be identified

“It provides propaganda to the Taliban, and if they don’t take responsibility, it actually helps the Taliban.”

The account of Friday’s airstrike by Afghan officials conflicted with that of the United States military, which said that coalition forces had come under attack in Azizabad,

and had called in an airstrike that killed 25 militants,

and five civilians.