Such operations "will have no benefit for Afghanistan," Karzai said at a news conference.

"Several time in the last year, Afghan government tried to prevent civilian casualties, but our innocent people are becoming victims of careless operations of Nato and international forces," Karzai said in a mixture of English and his native Pashto.

Foreign forces killed 52 civilians in a three-day operation in southern Afghanistan this week, President Hamid Karzai said Saturday.

"In Chora, Nato, coalition forces fired artillery on Chora from Tirin Kot in which according to our latest information ... 52 of our countrymen were martyred," Karzai said.

The Nato force said Karzai's figure for the number of civilian dead was similar to its own but that it was unclear if they had been killed by security forces or Taliban fighters.

Provincial councillor Mawlawi Hamdullah said Monday that the fighting, which started in the Chora district of the southern province of Uruzgan last Saturday, was estimated to have left up to 60 civilians dead.

Fire from foreign forces killed most of them, and 100 more wounded were in hospital in the provincial capital Tirin Kot, he said.

The death toll was never confirmed although the interior ministry said 10 civilians were killed by Taliban.

In all, he said 90 civilians had died in foreign-led operations in the past 10 days.

About 50 Taliban were also killed in last Saturday's fighting, Hamdullah said.

Chora district falls under the command of the Dutch deployment to the 37-nation International Security Assistance Force, which lost a soldier to fighting there.