Scores die in Afghan tanker blasts

Scores of people have been killed in Afghanistan after a NATO air strike targetted two hijacked fuel tankers. The vehicles had been taken by the Taliban but it is unclear how many insurgents and how many civilians died when the trucks exploded.¨

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has condemned any civilian loss of life saying it was unacceptable. NATO has dispatched a senior team to talk to witnesses to find out what happened. The NATO attack was about 7 kilometres south west of Kunduz city in the far north of Afghanistan in the early hours local time. Earlier the fuel trucks had been reported hijacked and two of the drivers beheaded by the Taliban. While under Taliban control one tanker had become stuck in a river bed and according to some reports the Taliban were giving some of the fuel away to local families. Anyone immediately near the tankers was burned beyond recognition by the explosions.

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