NATO to probe Afghan tanker airstrikes

KABUL, Afghanistan, Sept. 4 (UPI) -- NATO's chief said Friday the military alliance would investigate whether civilians were killed in a NATO airstrike in northern Afghanistan overnight.

Anders Fogh Rasmussen said a team was sent to Kunduz, Afghanistan, where reports indicated at least 93 people, including civilians, died in the airstrike on two fuel tankers hijacked by Taliban militants, China's state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

"There was an (International Security Assistance Force) airstrike against the Taliban during the night. Certainly, a number of Taliban were killed. There is also the possibility of civilian casualties as well," Rasmussen told reporters in Brussels, where NATO is based. "But it is not yet clear."

A Taliban spokesman told the BBC militants who stole two NATO fuel tankers had decided to empty them when the vehicles became stuck. He said the air attack occurred as villagers arrived to take some of the fuel.

The U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan said it sent a team to the strike site as well. Peter Galbraith, deputy special representative in Afghanistan, said he was concerned by reports of civilian casualties.

"As an immediate priority, everything possible must be done to ensure that people wounded by this attack are properly cared for, and that families of the deceased are getting all the help they need," Galbraith said in a statement. "Steps must also be taken to examine what happened and why an airstrike was employed in circumstances where it was hard to determine with certainty that civilians were not present."

The airstrike could destroy rapport NATO has been trying to build, Waliullah Rahmani, head of the Kabul Center for Strategic Studies, told The Christian Science Monitor.

"One operation can ruin the entire positive image of NATO," Rahmani told the online newspaper. "I think it's not currently visible to Afghans that NATO has decreased civilian casualties."