The United Nations has called for an investigation into a NATO air strike which killed up to 90 people in Afghanistan................
Afghanistan: NATO aircraft bombed two fuel tankers which had been hijacked by the Taliban.
NATO says most of the dead were members of the Taliban, but local officials say 20 to 30 civilians were also killed and injured.
Local police and government leaders say dozens of civilians were gathered around the tanker, trying to scavenge fuel before it was hit.
Witnesses say the dead and injured were severely burnt.
The UN mission in Afghanistan is sending investigators to the scene near the northern city of Kunduz and NATO also says it will fully investigate the reports of civilian casualties.
NATO secretary general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, says the leader of international troops in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, had spoken to Afghan President Hamid Karzai about the air strike.
"An investigation team has been sent already to the scene led by an Admiral from ISAF headquarters," he said.
"General McCrystal has already spoken to President Karzai to express his commitment to get to the bottom of what happened as soon as possible."
A spokeswoman for the Coalition forces, Captain Elizabeth Matthias, says in order to prevent the hijacked fuel from staying in Taliban hands, NATO attacked the tankers with aircraft.
"As I understand it the local ISAF commander actually decided to conduct the air strike," she said.
"It was the Afghan forces who had noted the insurgents activity earlier in the evening. So the ISAF commander has reached out to his Afghan counterparts this morning and they are indeed looking at the site followed by asking individuals in the area to what they witnessed having happened and what evidence they can find on the ground."
The UN says nearly two-thirds of 828 civilians allegedly killed by pro-government forces in Afghanistan's conflict last year died in air strikes.
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