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Airstrike review

November 30, 2009

Germany's new defense minister, Karl Theodor zu Guttenberg, has announced there will be a new examination of the German-ordered airstrike on two fuel trucks said to have killed dozens of civilians in Afghanistan.

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Defense Minister Karl Theodor zu Guttenberg speaking to the press
Zu Guttenberg says the inquiry will clear up questions about the airstrikeImage: AP

Defense Minister Karl Theodor zu Guttenberg told German media on Sunday that he had ordered a full inquiry into a deadly airstrike in Afghanistan, after his predecessor and two others stepped down last week. The September airstrike of two fuel tankers hijacked by Taliban militants in Afghan province of Kunduz killed up to 142 civilians.

Labor Minister Franz Josef Jung, who was the defence minister in the previous government stepped down on Friday after the German mass circulation daily Bild reported that aerial videos and a secret military report had indicated that civilians had been killed in the airstrike even as Jung was denying it.

On Thursday, Jung admitted that the report did point to civilian deaths but said he had had no "concrete knowledge" of its contents.

Guttenberg told Bild on Sunday that "mistakes were made," both "before and after the airstrike was ordered." These would be cleared up "as soon as possible," he said.

"Finding out whether these documents put those mistakes in a new light is the objective of this inquiry," he said.

hf/AFP/AP
Editor: Chuck Penfold

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