Sep 4, 2009, 14:45 GMT
Kunduz, Afghanistan - An Afghan governor said Friday that up to 60 people, mostly Taliban, were killed when a NATO airstrike hit two Taliban-hijacked oil tankers in northern Afghanistan, while villagers said most causalities were civilians.
Afghan Police inspect the burnt oil tankers, at the site of a NATO-led airstrike, targeting Taliban militants, in Kunduz northern Afghanistan, 04 September 2009. 4 EPA/JAWED KARGAR
The militants stopped the two oil trucks, which were bound for German forces stationed in Kunduz, Thursday night on the highway connecting Kunduz with the neighbouring province of Baghlan, Governor Mohammad Omar said.
The militants were taking the trucks to Kunduz's Chardarah district from the Ali Abad area when they got stuck in mud in a river, some two kilometers from the residential area, he said. He added that the militants, along with some villagers, were trying to empty the tanks when an explosion occurred early Friday.
'More than 50 or up to 60 people died and the remaining 30 were wounded,' Omar told the German Press Agency dpa, countering his initial count of 90 people dead, including around 45 civilians.
'The problem is that all those people around the tankers were badly burned and can't be recognized, but they were mostly armed Taliban and the rest who went from the village at 2 am cannot be other than Taliban,' Omar said.
He said five Taliban commanders, including Mullah Abdul Rahman, who commanded the militants in several districts, were among those killed. Four Chechen fighters were also killed in the blast.
A German military spokesman said Friday that the airstrikes were ordered by German forces.
German military officials maintained, however, that more than 50 militants and no civilians were killed in the strikes.
'There were presumably no uninvolved people,' a German military spokesman in Berlin said.
A German peacekeepers' team called for airborne support against a militant attack, German military sources added.
Spokesman Captain Christian Dienst added, 'If there had been civilians present, the airstrike would not have been allowed.'
The protection of civilians was 'of the highest priority' for the German military, he said.
Abdul Razaq Yaqoubi, the provincial police chief, told a press conference in Kunduz city that 56 Taliban were killed and 13 others were wounded. He said a number of civilians were also killed, but could not give any figures, saying an investigation was underway.
He said the Taliban militants beheaded both of the truck drivers.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid, said that more than 150 civilians were killed when military jets bombed the village.
Majahid, who was talking to dpa by phone from an undisclosed location, said that villagers were taking fuel from a US military captured tanker when the bombing took place.
President Hamid Karzai was saddened by the incident that, according to his office, left 90 people dead and wounded. He has ordered an investigation, the presidential palace said in a statement.
'Targeting the civilian for whatever purpose is unacceptable,' Karzai was quoted in the statement as saying. 'Innocent civilians should not be killed or wounded during the military operations.'
A spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Kabul confirmed that ISAF air forces identified two hijacked tankers and destroyed them near a river in Kunduz province.
He also said the ISAF was aware of allegations of civilian casualties in the incident, adding that an investigation was being conducted.
'After the ISAF observed the insurgent activity and assessed civilians were not in the area, a local ISAF commander authorized an airstrike,' an ISAF statement said.
More than 20 wounded people, including three children, were brought to Kunduz's provincial hospital from the blast, said Humayun Khamosh, director of the provincial health department.
A large number of wounded people were taken to Kabul by their relatives, Omar said.
Mohammad Akbar from Haji Amanullah village, where the incident took place, said the Taliban had asked the local villagers to take the fuel.
'Both Taliban and ordinary people were taking the fuel to their homes when the military jet dropped bombs on the tankers,' Akbar, who was accompanying wounded people to the Kunduz city hospital, told dpa. He said his cousin was killed in the blast.
'My brother and his two sons went to the area to see what was happening,' Mohammad Anwer, another villagers said in Kunduz city hospital. 'My brother was badly burned and died. Now I have brought his two burned sons to hospital,' he said while sobbing.
Another villager, Najeebullah, who like many Afghans goes by a single name, said more than 150 people were killed and wounded when they went to see what was happening.
'The people did not go to get the fuel, but they went to see what was happening when the bombardment took place,' he said.
The Taliban is active in Chardarah district, from which they have launched several attacks in the province.
'The Taliban are active in that village, so it will take some time to get the exact figures of how many of them were civilians and how many of them were the militants,' a security source said while declining to be named because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
Governor Omar also admitted that government forces' control was limited in the area, adding, 'This is an insecure area. It is a Taliban area.'
If the claim of large number of civilian deaths is proved, it could create outrage in the country that has witnessed similar incidents in the past. Civilian deaths during NATO military operations have become a delicate issue in the country and have sparked demonstrations in the past.
The new NATO commander for Afghanistan, US General Stanley McChrystal, released new guidelines last week to curb such casualties and make the protection of civilians its main mission.
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