Kabul, Afghanistan ? Six children were crushed to death by a collapsing wall during an assault by U.S. forces on a compound filled with weapons in eastern Afghanistan, a U.S. military spokesman said Wednesday, the second time in a week that civilians have died in action against Taliban and al-Qaida suspects.

The children died during a night attack Friday against a complex in eastern Paktia province where a renegade Afghan commander, Mullah Jalani, kept a huge cache of weapons, said U.S. Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty.

“The next day we discovered the bodies of two adults and six children,” he said. “We had no indication there were noncombatants” in the compound.

Jalani was not at the site, 12 miles east of Gardez, but Hilferty said nine other people were arrested. He did not identify the adults that were killed or say whether they were combatants or civilians.

Hilferty said that U.S. warplanes and troops attacked the compound, setting off secondary explosions. The bodies were discovered the following day.

Hilferty expressed regret about the death of civilians in Afghanistan, but said it was impossible to completely eliminate such incidents.

“We try very hard not to kill anyone. We would prefer to capture the terrorists rather than kill them,” Hilferty said. “But in this incident, if noncombatants surround themselves with thousands of weapons and hundreds of rounds of ammunition and howitzers and mortars in a compound known to be used by a terrorist we are not completely responsible for the consequences.”

The news comes on the heels of a tragic U.S. military blunder in neighboring Ghazni province on Saturday. Nine children were found dead in a field after an attack by an A-10 ground attack aircraft that was targeting a Taliban suspect.

U.S. officials have apologized for that incident.

“I can’t guarantee that we will not injure more civilians,” Hilferty said. “I wish I could.”