KABUL, Afghanistan — Three children were killed and three wounded in cross-fire on Monday when Taliban insurgents attacked a team of American soldiers in southern Afghanistan, Afghan officials said.

The American soldiers were meeting with residents in the Shajoe District of Zabul Province. Muhammad Jan Rasoolyaar, the deputy governor of Zabul, said that the Afghan Local Police and the Americans were present at a shura, or meeting of tribal leaders, in hopes of persuading the community to form its own police unit. Many children had gathered around the soldiers when the insurgents attacked, he said. “It is too early to say who is to blame,” Mr. Rasoolyaar said, adding that another shura had been convened to examine what had happened.

But a spokesman for the American military, James Graybeal, accused the Taliban of deliberately targeting the children.

“What it sounds like is that during the firefight, the insurgents turned their weapons on the civilians,” he said.