Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Ten parliamentary campaign workers were killed in a NATO airstrike in northeastern Afghanistan on Thursday, a provincial official said.
The incident -- which took place ahead of the September 18 parliamentary election -- occurred in the Rostaq district of Takhar province, where NATO says it was targeting a militant.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who has consistently deplored civilian casualties in the war, condemned the strike, which occurred on the same day he's scheduled to meet with U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
Faiz Mohammad, spokesman for the provincial governor, said the event happened because NATO-led and Afghan security forces are not coordinating their activities properly.
NATO's International Security Assistance Force told CNN it is "still looking into this situation" and "gathering the facts".
"We're aware of the allegations that this strike caused civilian causalities and we'll do our best to get to the bottom of the accusations," U.S. Marine Corps Maj. Gen. David Garza, an ISAF official, said in a press release.
CNN
