NATO's supreme allied commander of Europe apologized Saturday for the deaths of  civilians in heavy fighting with Taliban forces in southern Afghanistan earlier this week.

The deaths occurred Tuesday when British NATO soldiers called in air and artillery strikes during fighting with Taliban in Panjwaii district, near Kandahar. NATO says it has confirmed 12 civilian deaths, along with dozens of Taliban fighters. Afghan officials say most of those who died in the aerial and artillery bombardments were civilians. 

President Hamid Karzai, right, awards a medal to Gen. James Jones at the presidential palace in Kabul on Saturday.
(Musadeq Sadeq/Associated Press)

But Gen James Jones, at the end of a three day visit to Afghanistan, said Taliban insurgents used villagers as cover during the attacks and in the "heat of battle," it can be difficult for NATO forces to separate civilians from fighters.

"That innocent people were wounded or killed is to be regretted and investigated," he said. "I personally apologize for the incident, for any loss of life, and I expressed my concern to President [Hamid Karzai] this morning."

"Insurgents do not play by the same rules that we would like to play by," Jones told reporters in Bagram, the largest U.S. base in Afghanistan. Earlier in the day, he met with Karzai at the presidential palace in Kabul.

'Use maximum caution.'—President Karzai to NATO

Karzai has repeatedly condemned civilian deaths caused by Western forces and earlier this month urged NATO to use "maximum caution" in its military operations.

In another development, a fugitive Taliban leader has rejected an offer from Karzai to negotiate an end to the violence in Afghanistan, according to a purported statement from the hardline militia on Saturday.

On Friday, Karzai said he would be willing to hold talks with Mullah Mohammad Omar and his followers if they stop receiving support from foreign fighters and cut ties with al-Qaeda.

He also wrote to influential ethnic Pashtun politicians in Pakistan asking for their support to stem the growing Taliban insurgency.

The Afghan president said he believes the Taliban leader is hiding in Pakistan, but that country says Omar is in Afghanistan.

The purported statement from the Taliban, sent by e-mail Saturday to the Associated Press by militant spokesman Mohammad Hanif, dismissed Karzai's latest offer of talks and called his administration a "puppet government."

Civilian casualties rising

Fighting in Afghanistan has escalated in the past year with Taliban fighters using more road-side bombs and suicide bombers. Civilian casualties have also increased. 

In the latest violence, 14 people, mostly elderly people and children, were killed Friday when the minibus they were travelling in was destroyed by a roadside bomb in the southern Uruzgan province, a provincial government official said. 

Forty-two Canadian soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan and more than 200 have been badly wounded since the mission began. Canada has more than 2,000 troops in the country, most around the southern city of Kandahar as part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force that is trying to quell the Taliban insurgency and support development activities.

With files from the Associated Press