Afghan leader condemns air strike as Gates arrives

By Phil Stewart and Sayed Salahuddin

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned on Thursday an air strike by NATO-led forces which he said killed 10 election campaign workers, although U.S. officials maintained it was aimed at an Islamist leader.

Civilian casualties caused by foreign forces hunting militants have caused major tension between Karzai and his Western allies. The latest incident came at a bad time as U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates landed for unannounced talks.

Gates's arrival was also overshadowed by renewed worries about corruption, one of Washington's biggest concerns in Afghanistan, after two officials from the country's top private bank left their positions amid allegations of graft.

Gates flew into the Afghan capital from Iraq, where he attended ceremonies to mark the end of U.S. combat operations.

That milestone has thrown the U.S. military focus back onto Afghanistan, where violence has reached its worst levels since the Taliban were ousted in 2001, despite the presence of almost 150,000 foreign troops, most of them American.

Speaking at a joint news conference, Gates and Karzai appeared to disagree over the air strike in northern Takhar province but the Afghan leader used milder language than in an earlier statement when he attacked the strike.

Those killed worked for a candidate in Afghanistan's September 18 parliamentary elections, Karzai said. U.S. officials, including Gates, said the strike was aimed at insurgents from the al Qaeda-linked Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU).

"The nature of the operation and the presence of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan's personalities or activists have to be determined. But we do know that the parliamentary candidate is wounded and 10 were killed," Karzai said.