NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has pledged to carry out an investigation into an air strike by NATO forces on two fuel tankers in Afghanistan, in which dozens of civilian lives have been lost.

The fuel tankers were hijacked by Taliban insurgents. The trucks then got stuck on the main road to Baghlan in the Kunduz province and local people came to collect the fuel.

A spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said earlier the local ISAF commander ordered the air strikes which destroyed the fuel trucks when it was confirmed that there were only insurgents in the area.

Local witnesses say that dozens of civilians on the scene of the attack died. The death toll, which also includes the Taliban rebels, lies between 50 and 90. Afghan medics say many survivors have been admitted to regional hospitals with horrific injuries.

British Foreign Minister David Miliband said an enquiry needed to be conducted swiftly and hoped that the incident would not undermine the NATO mission in Afghanistan. He added that it's important to be open and clear about what happened and “to make sure it doesn't happen again”.