Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel paid a visit to Afghanistan on Saturday, two days after Germany's top diplomat announced a planned reduction in troop levels and a day after one of its soldiers died.
The visit also comes on a violent day across the country, where two coalition soldiers died in combat, two civilians were killed in a bombing, and 20 insurgents died in fighting. NATO's International Security Assistance Force also released initial results of a probe into a friendly fire incident that left four Afghan soldiers dead.
Merkel arrived in Kunduz in northern Afghanistan to visit German troops, a German government spokesman said. The spokesman would not give any further details except to say the trip was previously unannounced for security reasons.
Germany has more than 4,800 troops serving with ISAF.
Germany will begin reducing its troop levels in Afghanistan in late 2011, Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said in a speech to German parliament Thursday.
Northern Afghanistan, which is typically not as volatile as the eastern and southern regions of the country, has seen an uptick in violence recently. CNN
