Four Bundeswehr soldiers were killed and up to six injured during a Taliban attack in northern Afghanistan on Thursday, German security sources said
The German Defence Ministry declined to officially confirm the deaths, saying it must first notify soldiers’ next of kin.
According to the source, a patrol some six kilometres north of Baghlan came under attack around 2:30 pm local time, news magazine Der Spiegel reported. A rocket propelled grenade reportedly struck an armoured Eagle IV vehicle near a bridge in the area, which is a known Taliban stronghold.
The attack came just a few weeks after three other Bundeswehr troops died in an attack on Good Friday.
The Bundeswehr paratroopers – aged 25, 28 and 35 – were shot during a fierce battle against insurgents in the Chahar Dara district southwest of the city of Kunduz. Eight other soldiers were injured in the fight, four of them seriously.
The recent bloodshed in the country has renewed debate over military policy in Afghanistan and whether the Bundeswehr is being properly outfitted and trained for the NATO mission. It has also prompted Chancellor Angela Merkel's government to break a long-standing taboo and call the conflict a “war”.
Germany has participated in the conflict in the Kunduz regions since 2002 as a member of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). There are currently more than 4,500 troops serving in the mission. The bloodshed earlier this month brought the number of German soldiers killed in Afghanistan to 39 – a number that will rise to 43 if the Defence Ministry confirms Thursday’s casualties.
Defence Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg was reportedly informed of the attack just after landing in Uzbekistan following a two-day Afghan visit.
During his tour the minister had announced a speedy upgrade to Bundeswehr weaponry in response to escalating violence in the region – saying Germany had fast-tracked an order for 60 new Swiss-made Eagle IV armoured vehicles – the same vehicle involved in Thursday’s deadly attack.
Soldiers had reportedly claimed before the Good Friday ambush that they were short on armoured vehicles – and the latest attack is certain to add to the growing sense of urgency at the Defence Ministry for new hardware for Berlin's troops.
The Local | Germany
