Kabul , Afghanistan -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Conflicting accounts of a botched NATO raid that killed five Afghans in February have led to a new investigation ordered by the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan , a NATO military spokesman said Monday . Lt. Col. Todd Breasseale , a NATO spokesman , said Gen. Stanley McChrystal , who oversees all U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan , called for the review after receiving a briefing from Afghan officials in late March . On Sunday , NATO acknowledged that its troops killed five Afghans in the nighttime raid in February , after initially saying the civilians may have been the victims of an `` honor killing . '' Although civilian casualties at the hands of NATO troops have fallen off in recent months , such incidents have strained the relationship between Afghanistan and the Western nations that make up the International Security Assistance Force . According to two U.S. military officials , in the March briefing , Afghan officials from the Interior Ministry told McChrystal that after the incident , they visited the compound where the Afghans were killed and found evidence of bloodstained walls being washed down and bullets being dug out . McChrystal wants a thorough review now to see why U.S. and Afghan accounts differ so greatly , according to one of the sources , a senior U.S. official familiar with the briefing . The senior U.S. official said that by the time the Afghan investigators got to the compound , the people who lived there may have been attempting to clean it up . NATO officials believe the U.S. and Afghan troops may have dug some bullets out of the wall for purposes of the initial investigation , which is a common practice , the official said . In March , the International Security Assistance Force released a statement denying a report by a British newspaper that NATO had covered up the involvement of troops in the incident . U.S. officials continue to deny that there was any coverup of U.S. involvement . `` We have no evidence to date anything improper was done , '' the senior U.S. official said . At the time of the February 12 incident , NATO said its troops went to a compound in the village of Khatabeh in Paktia province , believing it to be a militant hideout . A firefight ensued , and several insurgents died , NATO said at the time . When soldiers entered the compound , they found the bodies of two men and two women who had been shot `` execution-style , '' a senior U.S. military official said then . `` It has the earmarks of a traditional honor killing , '' the official said , adding that the women were found bound and gagged . An honor killing is a slaying carried out by a family or community member against someone thought to have brought dishonor to them . The senior U.S. military official said that at the time , it was n't clear whether dishonor in the case stemmed from accusations of acts such as adultery or even cooperation with NATO forces . But on Sunday , NATO made an about-face from its earlier claims . `` International forces were responsible for the deaths of three women who were in the same compound where two men were killed by the joint Afghan-international patrol searching for a Taliban insurgent , '' NATO said in a statement . There was no explanation given for the cause of the third woman 's death or why it was n't mentioned previously . The two armed men whom troops killed were not insurgents , NATO said Sunday . `` The force went to the compound based on reliable information in search of a Taliban insurgent and believed that the two men posed a threat to their personal safety , '' the NATO statement said . `` We now understand that the men killed were only trying to protect their families . '' NATO said a lack of forensic evidence made it difficult to determine how or when the three women died . But it concluded that they were killed when troops fired at the men . As for the initial report about the women being found bound and gagged , the NATO statement said it stemmed from a cultural misunderstanding . `` The statement noted the women had been bound and gagged , but this information was taken from an initial report by the international members of the joint force who were not familiar with Islamic burial customs , '' the statement said , without elaborating . NATO troops who went to the scene after the raid may have misinterpreted burial rites . Muslims wrap their dead in clean white cloth before they are placed in the ground . NATO said it will apologize to the victims ' family members and offer compensation in accordance with local customs . The NATO admission follows the fatal shooting of five Afghan soldiers by troops in a friendly fire incident in northern Afghanistan on Friday . Afghan President Hamid Karzai has strongly criticized civilian deaths by international troops , and the deaths have bred resentment among many Afghans . The numbers have fallen off in recent months since McChrystal took over as U.S. commander in Afghanistan . `` It is better to miss a target than to cause civilian casualties , '' McChrystal said in December . `` We can always target enemy leaders later . We ca n't make up for the fact that we killed civilians . '' CNN 's Barbara Starr contributed to this report .