ROME, July 3 (Reuters) - NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer vowed on Tuesday to investigate recent civilian deaths in Afghanistan, but contrasted NATO's record with a Taliban who "behead people, burn schools, kill women and children".

The rising toll on civilians is putting pressure on Afghan President Hamid Karzai -- who like the NATO chief was in Rome for a conference on the rule of law in his country -- in the bloodiest period since the Taliban government fell in 2001.

In the latest major incident this weekend, Afghan officials said 45 civilians were killed by an air strike in the country's south, but the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said the toll from the pre-dawn raid was lower.

"Our opponent mixes and mingles with innocent civilians, they are in a different moral category," De Hoop Scheffer said after meeting Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi, whose country contributes to the nearly 50,000-strong international mission.

"We do not intentionally kill, they behead people, they burn schools, they kill women and children. Let us not forget," said the NATO chief, declining comment on the death toll itself.

"Having said that, NATO will do and has to do everything in its ability to prevent civilian casualties," he told reporters.

Civilian deaths have sparked demands for the expulsion of foreign troops and Karzai's resignation. An Afghan rights group said this week that foreign air strikes had recently killed more civilians than the Taliban and should be cut back.

"Discussing numbers is not the right way to go," the NATO chief said of the weekend's deaths. "Let's investigate first and draw up conclusions later."

"Of course, looking at the hearts and minds in Afghanistan and looking at the hearts and minds in the 37 nations participating in ISAF is an important element in relation to civilian casualties," he said.

AlertNet news is provided by