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German minister quits over Afghan cover-up scandal (Urgent)
Nov 27, 2009, 11:40 GMT
Berlin - Former German defence minister Franz Josef Jung resigned as labour minister on Friday over an alleged cover-up of civilian casualties in an airstrike in Afghanistan earlier this year.
'I take the political responsibility for the internal information policy in the defence ministry' he told reporters in Berlin.'
Jung, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) was defence minister on September 4, when a German officer ordered an airstrike that killed civilians.
In the subsequent days, Jung likely withheld his knowledge of civilian casualties from the public, according to a report Thursday in the mass circulation daily Bild.
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