Six civilians were killed during a raid by US-led coalition forces in east Afghanistan yesterday sparking a protest.

Thousands of Afghans, some shouting "Death to America" and carrying shrouded bodies took part in the rally.

They felled trees to block a road and vowed not to bury the bloodstained bodies until those responsible were punished and villagers detained after the incident were freed.

Nangahar province police spokesman Abdul Ghafur said the six dead were civilians, including three women, but the US military said four of those killed were Taliban fighters and a woman and a teenage girl died in crossfire.

Neighbours said five people died, including two women, with only a young girl surviving from the family.

The raid had targeted a car bomb-making cell near the provincial capital, Jalalabad.

"We are saddened at the loss of civilian life," Major Chris Belcher said.

"It is extremely unfortunate that militants put others' lives in danger by hiding among their families."

The incident occurred in the area where US Marines killed several civilians in March, opening fire after their convoy was attacked by a suicide car bomber. Those deaths also sparked angry protests and the unit's early recall.

The protest ended peacefully and the road reopened, but organisers have promised a bigger rally today if the five villagers being held are not released by noon.

Militant attacks on Afghan schools last year killed 85 students and teachers and destroyed 187 schools, the education minister said yesterday.

More than half of Afghan children do not have facilities to go to school, while 60 per cent of those enrolled "study under tents, in the shade of walls and trees or in some cases, under the hot sun," Education Minister Mohammad Hanif Atmar said in a speech marking Education Day.

PHOTO CAPTION

Afghan mourners sit beside the coffin of a man at a funeral ceremony in Jalalabad, after a bombing raid by coalition forces. (AFP)