Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


German Troops Mistakenly Kill 5 Afghan Soldiers

   VOA News 03 April 2010

   The German military says its troops have mistakenly killed five Afghan
   soldiers in northern Afghanistan.
   German officials said Saturday the incident occurred as troops were on
   their  way to the scene of a deadly clash with Taliban insurgents near
   the city of Kunduz late Friday.
   The  military  says  the  German  patrol  opened  fire on two unmarked
   civilian  vehicles  that  refused to stop after being warned.  Troops
   later discovered that Afghan soldiers were inside.
   German  troops  were  rushing  to  the  scene of a gun battle with the
   Taliban  that  killed three German soldiers and wounded several others
   earlier Friday.
   NATO  issued a statement Saturday offering condolences to the families
   of  the  Afghan  soldiers.  A NATO spokesman, Eric Tremblay, said the
   alliance   works   "extremely  hard  to  coordinate  and  synchronize"
   operations  with Afghan forces, and incidents "such as this hurt these
   efforts."
   The  Afghan  Defense Ministry also expressed its sympathy to soldiers'
   families. Â
   NATO and the ministry are conducting an investigation.
   In southern Afghanistan, NATO says one of its soldiers was killed in a
   roadside  bombing  Friday.   NATO did not give details or release the
   nationality of the soldier.

   Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.

.