KABUL: 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.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Tuesday that her government will not accept “premature judgments” about the incident. Germany’s military has been criticized for calling in Friday’s strike by a US jet on two hijacked tanker trucks in Kunduz province and for initially insisting that it appeared only militants were killed.
Local officials have said civilians were among those killed, but there have been conflicting claims over how many.
A statement from the NATO-led force said Tuesday commanders originally believed the tankers were surrounded only by Taleban, but a subsequent review showed “civilians also were killed and injured in the strike.”
The top US and NATO commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, appointed a Canadian major general to lead the investigation. A US Air Force officer and a German officer are also on the investigating team.
Merkel acknowledged the possibility that civilians were harmed and that “we will not gloss over anything” when results of the investigation are clear. But she told Parliament that the identities of those hit were still unclear because of contradictory reports.
“We will not accept premature judgments,” she said. “I say this very clearly after what I have experienced in the last few days: I will not tolerate that from whoever it may be, at home as well as abroad.” She told Parliament she regrets deeply if any civilians were harmed. However, she also delivered a robust defense of a military mission that is unpopular at home.
The NATO announcement came the same day a Taleban car bomber attacked an international convoy near the entrance to the military airport in Kabul. The blast killed at least three civilians, Afghan officials said.
No foreign forces were killed in the attack, US military spokeswoman Capt. Elizabeth Mathias said.
The Taleban claimed responsibility for the blast, the third major attack by the militants in the capital in four weeks. The Belgian Defense Ministry said one Belgian soldier was seriously wounded and that three others were lightly wounded.
The chief of Kabul’s criminal investigation department, Abdul Ghafar Sayadzada, said three Afghan civilians were killed and six wounded.
Taleban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said a suicide car bomber rammed into a NATO convoy and destroyed three Land Cruisers. The early morning blast rattled windows more than 1.5 km away and flames continued to shoot out from burning vehicles more than an hour later. Small blasts could be heard, likely from ammunition exploding inside the vehicles.
A witness said he saw the car ram into a line of SUVs.
“I saw three or four Land Cruisers for the foreigners just in front of the gate ... then there was a car and it hit them then blew up,” said Humayun, who watched the attack from his nearby shop.
US 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 US and other international forces is right next to Kabul’s civilian airport, but they have separate entrances.
Meanwhile, Taleban 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 Taleban in the resulting firefight.
