Kunduz, Afghanistan - Villagers in Omarkhel village in the northern Afghan province of Kunduz claimed Saturday that more than 100 civilians were killed in Friday's NATO airstrike that targeted two hijacked fuel trucks.

Teams from the Afghan government, NATO military and the United Nations are investigating the incident in which the trucks, hijacked by the Taliban, were hit in a US jet strike ordered by the local German command of the NATO-led force.

The air raid killed scores of people - mostly insurgents, but also civilians, according to Afghan officials.

On Saturday hundreds of villagers gathered in five main sub- villages of Omarkhel in Chardarah district to mourn the "scores" of people they claimed were killed.

"I can say for sure that 150 people were killed in these five villages of Omerkhel area," Haji Abdul Rahim, a tribal chief in Yaqoubi, one of the five affected villages, told the German Press Agency dpa.

Talking in a mosque, where prayers were being said for the dead, Rahim said his son and two of his nephews were among those killed. He said more than 50 other villagers were wounded in the blasts.

A dpa reporter who visited the two villages of Yaqoubi and Maulawi Nahim counted around 60 fresh graves, while villagers claimed that another 80 people were killed in Haji Amanullah, Rahmatbay and Zadran villages.

The German military in Berlin said that the air raid left more than 50 insurgents and no civilians dead, while Afghan police said some civilians lost their lives, but did not provide any figures.

Haji Mohayodin, another tribal chief from Yaqoubi village, who said he also lost a son among those killed, admitted that there were some Taliban fighters present at the time of the raid.

But he insisted that most of the victims were innocent villagers who rushed to the scene with all kinds of containers they had available at home to get free fuel which the Taliban wanted to get rid of after the trucks got stuck in mud in a river.

"Our people are jobless and poor, so everyone rushed to the trucks to get as much fuel as they could," he said.

Inside the mosque among more men who lost family members, 14-year- old Gul Rahim said he lost his father and two of his elder brothers in the attack.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai said that targeting civilians for whatsoever purpose was unacceptable and appointed a delegate to investigate the incident. Karzai's office had said Friday that around 90 people were killed or wounded in the attack.

Visits to two of the villages revealed that the Taliban held sway there, so investigations on the ground by government forces seemed unlikely.

The United Nations and NATO military, as part of their own probes, sent teams to talk to the affected people.

The investigations also come as Afghanistan tries to avoid post- election political crisis in the face of mounting allegations of fraud during the August 20 elections.

Unlike in pre-election periods when he lashed out at the NATO forces over civilian deaths, Karzai - who is well ahead of other candidates in the partial results announced by the elections commission last week - was seen as reacting mildly to the Kunduz incident.

Former foreign minister, Abdullah Abdullah, the incumbent's main rival, and other candidates have accused Karzai's team of "state- engineered fraud" and intimidation of the voters during the election.

Hence Karzai, if he is declared winner, more than ever needs the support for a new government from Western allies that altogether have more than 100,000 troops in the country.

If the reports of high civilian casualties prove true, it would also be ominous for around 4,000 German force members who have so far been barred by Berlin from taking part in combat operations in Afghanistan's southern and eastern regions where the Taliban are most active.

The incident comes amid a heated debate in Germany about the role of its soldiers in the Afghan conflict which is becoming increasingly unpopular just three weeks before German general elections.

Several villagers interviewed in the Omarkhel area also accused Kunduz governor Mohammad Omar of provoking international forces against residents of Chardarah, who like most of the Taliban are Pashtun, the biggest ethnicity in Afghanistan.

In an interview on Saturday, Omar in turn blamed the villagers for aiding and accommodating the Taliban fighters in their areas.

Omar, who initially had said that up to 60 people, mostly insurgents were killed in Friday's airstrike, said the "real figures" of death toll would be available once the ongoing probe was complete. (dpa)