Kunduz (Afghanistan) Sep 4 (DPA) Ninety people were killed Friday when a NATO airstrike hit two Taliban-hijacked oil tankers in the northern Afghan province of Kunduz as the militants were distributing fuel to civilians, Kunduz's governor said.

The militants stopped the two oil trucks, which were bound for German forces stationed in Kunduz, Thursday night on the highway connecting Kunduz with the neighbouring province of Baghlan, Governor Mohammad Omar said.

They took the trucks to Kunduz's Chardarah district, where the explosion occurred early Friday as civilians gathered to pick up the fuel, he said.

'Around 90 people with around half of them civilians were killed in the explosions,' Omar told DPA.

A German military spokesman said Friday that the airstrikes were ordered by German forces.

German military officials maintained, however, that more than 50 militants and no civilians were killed in the strikes.

A German reconstruction team called for airborne support against a militant attack, German military sources added.

A spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Kabul confirmed that ISAF air forces identified two hijacked tankers and destroyed them near a river in Kunduz province.

'A large number of insurgents were killed or wounded,' he said without being able to provide figures.

He also said the ISAF was aware of allegations of civilian casualties in the incident, adding that an investigation was being conducted.

'After the ISAF observed the insurgent activity and assessed civilians were not in the area, a local ISAF commander authorized an airstrike,' an ISAF statement said.