There has been confusion on the number and identities of the victims in the accident, as earlier reports broadcast by the British TV news network said that at least 10 to 12 US soldiers were killed.

But Hoshyar Zebari, spokesman of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), told reporters that the number of Kurdish fighters killed were 12. He said 45 others were also injured in the bombing.

He added that Wajih Barzani, head of the KDP special forces and brother of KDP leader Massoud Barzani, was seriously wounded in the attack near the city of Mosul.

In the first report on the incident, BBC correspondent John Simpson reported from the site that at least 10 to 12 people were killed, including some US special forces personnel escorting the convoy.

"I have counted 10 to 12 bodies ... Americans dead," he said.

"This is just a scene from hell here. There are vehicles on fire, bodies lying around, and there are bits of bodies around me," said Simpson, who was also injured in the attack.

In Qatar, the US Central Command acknowledged that its warplanes might have attacked a Kurdish convoy in northern Iraq.

"Coalition aircraft may have engaged special operations and friendly Kurdish ground forces approximately 30 miles (50 km) southeast of Mosul," said the statement.

It gave no further details, adding that the incident was under investigation.

In an earlier statement, the US Central Command earlier Sunday announced that three US soldiers were killed and five others wounded in a possible "friendly fire" incident involving a F-15E Strike Eagle aircraft in northern Iraq.

It was unclear if this was referring to the same incident involving Kurdish fighters.

US forces and Kurdish militia fighters are fighting shoulder-to-shoulder in northern Iraq, where thousands of US troops have been deployed to set up a northern front for the imminent encirclement of Iraqi capital of Baghdad.

Kurdish fighters have been pushing toward two major northern cities of Mosul and Kirkuk in the past days after seizing several positions abandoned by Iraqi troops which retreated under relentless bombings by US warplanes.

(Xinhua News Agency April 6, 2003)