NATO: Civilians died in Afghan airstrike

KABUL (AP) — The NATO-led force acknowledged for the first time Tuesday that Afghan civilians were killed in a German-ordered airstrike last week on two stolen fuel tankers, and the top commander appointed a team to investigate.

A statement from the NATO-led force said commanders originally believed the tankers were surrounded only by Taliban insurgents, but that a subsequent review showed “civilians also were killed and injured in the strike” called in by German commanders and carried out by U.S. fighter jets. Previously, officials had said only civilians may have been wounded.

The top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, appointed a Canadian major general to lead the investigation. A U.S. Air Force officer and a German officer are also on the investigating team, the NATO-led force announced. The make-up of the investigative team is important because the incident involved both German and U.S. forces.

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U.S. forces spokesman Lt. Col. Todd Vician confirmed an explosion south of the airport, but said he did not have details. The military airport used by U.S. and other international forces is right next to Kabul’s civilian airport, but they have separate entrances.

Insurgent attacks, often deadly, occur in Kabul despite tight security and blast walls. Suicide bombers have hit government buildings and gunmen have overrun ministries.

In the run-up to the Aug. 20 presidential election, a suicide attack near the main gate of NATO headquarters killed seven people and injured scores and gunmen briefly took over a bank in the city. Also insurgents fired on the presidential palace on the same day that they unleashed a suicide car bombers on a NATO convoy.

The violence in the capital comes amid growing uncertainty over the vote. A U.N.-backed commission investigating the vote said Tuesday it had found “clear and convincing evidence of fraud” and that it was ordering a recount of questionable polling stations.

Widespread allegations of ballot-box stuffing and suspicious tallies are threatening the legitimacy of the election as the country awaits final results. More than 720 major fraud charges have been lodged with the Electoral Complaints Commission.

Meanwhile, Taliban insurgents ambushed a police convoy in the village of Dahna Ghori in Baghlan province Monday evening, Gov. Mohammad Akbar Barakzai said Tuesday, and police killed 12 Taliban in the resulting firefight.

Police suffered no casualties in the ambush, Barakzai said. But he said as the convoy was returning to Pul-e-Khumri, the provincial capital, it was hit by a bomb.

Barakzai said one policeman was killed and 17 were wounded in the explosion, two of them seriously.