"Villagers swarmed the trucks to collect the fuel despite warnings that 
they might be hit with an airstrike"

I have a good idea, Hamouud ! There is a big petro truck stuck in the 
desert, it is flowing gas all over the place !
It is a free gift from Allah ! Let us take all containers and fill it up 
with free petro !
Yes, I have heard petro is dangerous and will blow up easy, and yes they 
will send a airstrike to blow it up ,,, If we hurry and be very careful, 
we can get some free petro without being blown up !!

So much for that plan.
Once again, Hippys darling the taliban give some bad advice to 
villagers, and they are blown to kingdom come.
One would think that if the taliban nicely suggests anything, you'd be 
inclined to do just the opposite ,,, But like the fish that keeps 
nibbling hooks, is caught, thrown back and nibbles again, apparently 
they will never learn.

No censure of the USA please, we were only doing what the Germans requested.
Nice to see the Germans back in the game anyhow ,,, Hopefully they'll 
shrug off the inevitable comparisons of this incident to the 
"Holocaust™" ,, And learn once again how to fight without feeling guilty 
about it.

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KUNDUZ, Afghanistan – An American jetfighter blasted two fuel tankers 
hijacked by the Taliban in northern Afghanistan on Friday, killing up to 
90 people, including insurgents and dozens of civilians who had rushed 
to the scene to collect fuel, Afghan officials said.

Germany, which called in the 2:30 a.m. airstrike, said 50 fighters were 
killed and that no civilians were in the area at the time. Later, 
however, NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen acknowledged some civilians 
may have died.

The attack in northern Kunduz province is likely to intensify Afghan 
public anger over such casualties, which prompted NATO commander Gen. 
Stanley McChrystal last June to order curbs on airstrikes where 
civilians are at risk.

Violence has soared across much of the country since President Barack 
Obama ordered 21,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan this year, shifting the 
focus of the U.S.-led war on Islamic extremism from Iraq. Fifty-one U.S. 
troops died in Afghanistan in August, the deadliest month for American 
forces there since the U.S.-led invasion in late 2001.

Kunduz, a former Taliban stronghold, had been generally peaceful until 
insurgent attacks began rising earlier this year — perhaps an effort to 
control a profitable smuggling route from Tajikistan. Most of the 
fighting in Afghanistan this summer has been in the south and east, 
where U.S. and British forces operate. Germany has troops under NATO 
command in Kunduz and is responsible for the area.

The airstrike occurred a day after Defense Secretary Robert Gates 
signaled for the first time that he may be willing to send more troops 
after months of publicly resisting a significant increase — despite 
growing public opposition in the United States to the war.

A large number of civilian casualties could also stoke opposition in 
Germany to the Afghan mission ahead of the Sept. 27 German national 
elections. There are 4,050 German soldiers in Afghanistan, and polls 
show a majority of Germans oppose the mission.

Friday's airstrike came hours after the militants seized the tankers 
near the German base — possibly for a suicide attack against the base, 
according to German Deputy Defense Minister Thomas Kossendey.

German officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity as a matter of 
policy, said the strike took place 40 minutes after the commanders 
requested it and an unmanned surveillance aircraft determined no 
civilians were in the area. It was unclear whether civilians began to 
assemble during that time.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said the hijacked trucks were headed 
from Tajikistan to supply NATO forces in Kabul. When the hijackers tried 
to drive them across the Kunduz River, the vehicles became stuck in the 
mud and the insurgents opened valves to release fuel and lighten the 
loads, he said.

Villagers swarmed the trucks to collect the fuel despite warnings that 
they might be hit with an airstrike, Mujahid said, claiming no Taliban 
fighters died in the attack.

Abdul Moman Omar Khel, member of the Kunduz provincial council and a 
native of the village where the airstrike happened, said about 500 
people from surrounding communities swarmed the trucks after the Taliban 
invited them to help themselves to the fuel.

"The Taliban called to the villagers, 'Come take free fuel,'" he said. 
"The people are so hungry and poor."

He said five people were killed from a single family, and a man he knows 
named Haji Gul Bhuddin lost three sons.

Kunduz Gov. Mohammad Omar said 90 people were killed, including a local 
Taliban commander and four Chechen fighters.

A senior Afghan police officer, speaking on condition of anonymity 
because of the sensitivity of the information, said the dead included 
about 40 civilians.

The director of the Kunduz hospital, Humanyun Khmosh, said a dozen 
people, including a 10-year-old boy, were treated for severe burns.

Many of the bodies were burned beyond recognition, and villagers were 
burying some of those in a mass grave.

It was impossible to independently verify details because the attack 
occurred in an area where Taliban forces operate. Travel is risky, and 
the Germans refused to allow an Associated Press reporter to accompany 
them to the site.

Some 10 hours after the attack, German troops reached the scene at 12:30 
p.m. and received fire from militants 40 minutes later, according to a 
Germany army statement. They returned the fire, the statement said.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has sharply criticized the U.S.-led 
command for allegedly using excessive force in the war against the 
Taliban, alienating the civilian population. Karzai repeated those 
charges in last month's still-unresolved presidential election and on 
Friday announced he was creating a panel to investigate the attack.

"Targeting civilians is unacceptable for us," he said.

The U.S. Embassy released a statement saying it was aware of reports of 
civilian casualties in Kunduz and that it awaits the results of a joint 
investigation by NATO and the Afghan government.

"We send our condolences to those families who lost loved ones," the 
statement said.

Last May, U.S. warplanes struck military targets in the western Farah 
province, killing an estimated 60 to 65 insurgents. The U.S. said 20 to 
30 civilians also died in those attacks. The Afghan government said 140 
civilians were killed.

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