Karzai also warned that the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), which has around 140,000 troops fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan, could face "huge problems" if the killing of civilians in error did not stop.

His statement came after Afghan officials said nine children were killed in an air strike targeting insurgents on Tuesday in the northeastern province of Kunar, which has seen a string of reported civilian deaths recently.

It again highlighted tensions between Karzai and the international community in Afghanistan ahead of the planned start of a limited withdrawal of foreign troops from July.

The Afghan army and police are due to take control of security in their own country from 2014.

"I once again point out that NATO and ISAF must focus on terrorist bases and havens or otherwise, with the daily killing of innocent civilians, they will cause huge problems for themselves," Karzai said in a statement issued by his office.

A spokesman for ISAF said a delegation made up of Afghan and ISAF officials had deployed to carry out an investigation into the latest claims.

It has previously said that it takes claims of civilian casualties "very seriously" and pledged to investigate the most recent alleged incident "quickly and thoroughly."

About 150 people demonstrated in the town of Asadabad, the capital of Kunar, following the latest incident. The crowd shouted anti-American slogans, witnesses said.

Karzai has long insisted that international forces deployed to his war-torn country should focus their efforts on militant hideouts across the border in neighbouring Pakistan.

Karzai also stressed that "Afghan villages are not the bases and havens of terrorism" in his statement.

The Western-backed leader is currently in London, where he is due to visit injured British soldiers who served in Afghanistan Wednesday. The statement was issued by his office in Kabul.

It came after Kunar provincial police chief Khalilullah Ziayee said nine children aged between seven and nine were killed in an air raid by NATO forces against insurgents Tuesday.

Earlier this week, an official delegation appointed by Karzai accused NATO-led forces of killing 65 civilians in a wave of recent, separate operations elsewhere in Kunar.

ISAF insists there were only a handful of civilian injuries but Karzai also spoke out following that incident.

Kunar is a mountainous region on the Pakistani border where insurgents linked to the Taliban and other militant groups are most active.

Civilian casualties during international military operations against insurgents are a key cause of friction between the Kabul government and its Western supporters.

Karzai argues that such incidents risk draining support away from his administration and towards the Taliban.

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