Berlin command defends colonel in Afghan airstrike (2nd Roundup)

Oct 29, 2009, 16:18 GMT

   Berlin - A NATO military inquiry into a controversial airstrike last month in Afghanistan places no blame on the German army, the head of the German armed forces said Thursday in Berlin.

   The inquiry was unable to resolve wildly varying estimates of the death toll in the September 4 bombing of a Taliban unit, added General Wolfgang Schneiderhan, the chief of staff. NATO has not published the result of the inquiry, but has sent it to Berlin first.

   Colonel Georg Klein summoned US air support to destroy two fuel tankers hijacked by the Taliban just a few kilometres from a German base. Villagers say the bombs also killed civilians who were stealing petrol from the trucks, which were stranded at night in a river bed.

'I see no grounds to doubt that the German soldiers acted appropriately in operational matters on the basis of a UN mandate and in a difficult situation,' said Schneiderhan.

Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, who took over Wednesday as German defence minister, said he expected Schneiderhan would evaluate the newly produced report 'and act if need be on the consequences.'

The new minister said: 'Every non-involved civilian who is killed is one too many and is to be profoundly regretted.'

According to Schneiderhan, NATO found the death toll could no longer be accurately computed. Depending on who was quoted, the strike killed between 17 and 142 people, and there could have been between 30 and 40 civilians either killed or wounded in the bombing.

   'That does not mean that any non-participating persons were killed by the airstrike,' said Scheiderhan.

   The report was compiled by officers of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, a NATO operation, and flown to Germany on Wednesday as urgent mail.

   Schneiderhan said the incident, which set off recriminations in Germany, where the Afghan deployment is not popular, should not be seen in isolation. There had been numerous Taliban attacks on ISAF troops in Klein's zone of responsibility in northern Afghanistan.

   Up to the end of August, six stolen tankers and other trucks had been used by the Taliban in attacks with high casualty tolls. The German forces had had intelligence that similar attacks were planned on the German reconstruction team in the area, he added.

The German military has been tight-lipped about the incident since it became public, insisting it would have nothing to say till NATO had established the facts. Schneiderhan did not take any questions from reporters.

   A report to Afghan President Hamid Karzai stated in mid-September that 30 civilians and 69 Taliban fighters were killed in the strike.