NATO jet bombs fuel tankers; Afghans say at least 70 died

KUNDUZ, Afghanistan (AP) — A U.S. jet dropped 500-pound bombs on two tanker trucks hijacked by the Taliban before dawn Friday, triggering a huge explosion that Afghan officials said killed more than 70 people, including insurgents and some civilians who had swarmed around the vehicles to siphon off fuel.

Germany, whose troops called in the 2:30 a.m. strike in the northern province of Kunduz, said it feared the hijackers would use the trucks to carry out a suicide attack against its military base nearby.

The airstrike took place as the U.S. wrestles with the level of its troop commitment here and despite efforts by the top U.S. general to curb use of air power and reduce civilian casualties, which have strained relations between the NATO force and the Afghan government. Hours earlier, the top Pentagon officer, Adm. Mike Mullen, said civilian casualties had recently been greatly reduced in Afghanistan.

Germany said that about 50 fighters were killed and that no civilians were believed in the area at the time. NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen, however, acknowledged some civilians may have died, and the U.S.-led coalition and the Afghan government announced a joint investigation.

Local government spokesman Mohammad Yawar said police found pieces of dozens of weapons scattered around the site. He estimated that more than 70 people were killed, at least 45 of them militants. Investigators were trying to account for the others, he said.

The local governor, Mohammad Omar, said 72 were killed and 15 wounded. He said about 30 of the dead were identified as insurgents, including four Chechens and a local Taliban commander. The rest were probably fighters or their relatives, he said.

Many of the bodies were burned beyond recognition, and villagers buried some in a mass grave.

Despite the uncertainties, the attack is likely to intensify Afghan public anger over civilian casualties. Last June, the NATO commander, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, ordered curbs on airstrikes where noncombatants are at risk.

In Washington, Defense Department press secretary Geoff Morrell said Friday that McChrystal’s new orders have started to reduce civilian casualties but that the effort is “a process” as opposed to something instantly achieved.

A large number of civilian casualties in Friday’s attack could also stoke opposition in Germany to the Afghan mission ahead of the Sept. 27 German national elections. There are 4,050 German soldiers in Afghanistan, and polls show a majority of Germans oppose their presence here.

Violence has soared across much of Afghanistan since President Barack Obama ordered 21,000 U.S. troops here this year to curb the Taliban, which has regrouped and rearmed since American-led forces drove the hard-line Islamist group from power in November 2001. Fifty-one U.S. troops died in Afghanistan in August, the deadliest month of the war for American forces.