With three-quarters of the vote counted in Afghanistan's presidential election, President Hamid Karzai has edged closer to the absolute majority needed to avoid a runoff with his top challenger, Abdullah Abdullah.

Merkel called for a speedy investigation to determine whether any civilians were killed in the NATO airstrike that claimed at least 56 lives Thursday near the northern city of Kunduz.

A commander of German troops serving with the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) called the airstrike after Taliban insurgents seized two petrol tankers from a German base.

Some reports put the death toll at around 120, among them civilians siphoning petrol from the trucks, which had reportedly become stuck in sand and overturned.