KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- Suspected Taliban militants attacked southern Afghanistan police posts, triggering clashes and NATO airstrikes that left 25 civilians and 20 militants dead, a senior police officer said Friday.

The militants attacked police and used civilian houses for cover in Helmand province's Gereshk district late Thursday, said provincial Police Chief Mohammad Hussein Andiwal. NATO responded by calling in airstrikes that killed 20 suspected militants -- but also 25 civilians, including nine women, three babies and the mullah of a local mosque, Andiwal said. NATO said the aircraft struck after insurgents attacked troops from its International Security Assistance Force 14 kilometers (9 miles) northeast of Gereshk town. "A compound was assessed to have been occupied by up to 30 insurgent fighters, most of whom were killed in the engagement," a NATO statement said. "We are concerned about reports that some civilians may have lost their lives during this attack," said an ISAF spokesman, Lt. Col. Mike Smith. Taliban used at least two civilian compounds for cover during the clashes, which lasted into early Friday, Andiwal said. "NATO was targeting the areas where the fire was coming from ... and two compounds were completely destroyed, and the families living in those compounds were killed," he said. Villagers loaded the victims' bodies onto tractor trailers to take them to the provincial capital, Lashkar Gah, to prove they were innocent victims, but police stopped them, Andiwal said. Smith said "it was the insurgents who initiated this attack, and in choosing to conduct such attacks in this location and at this time, the risk to civilians was probably deliberate." "It is this irresponsible action that may have led to casualties," he said