German General Quits Over Afghan Strike

Germany's top soldier and a senior defence ministry official quit on Thursday over a controversial strike in northern Afghanistan in September in which NATO says as many as 142 people died.

The resignations, announced in parliament by Defence Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, followed press reports that information about the September 4 strike ordered by a German commander was withheld.

Chief of staff General Wolfgang Schneiderhan "has released himself from his duties at his own request," zu Guttenberg said. "State secretary (Peter) Wichert is also taking responsibility."

The commander, Colonel Georg Klein, called in the NATO airstrike against two tanker trucks carrying fuel that had been seized by Taliban insurgents near Kunduz, fearing they could be used to attack troops.

The strike is believed to have killed not only militants but also between 30 and 40 civilians, according to a report by the NATO military alliance.

The mass-circulation Bild daily cited a confidential army video and report that the paper said showed that Klein could not rule out the presence of civilians around the trucks when he ordered the strike.

If that is the case, NATO rules of engagement state that Klein should not have ordered the bombardment.

Schneiderhan said on October 31 when a NATO report on the strike was published that Klein had acted correctly.

"In light of the results of the report, I have no reason to doubt that German soldiers acted in the correct military fashion, given their mandate from the United Nations and the difficult operational situation," Schneiderhan had said.

For several days after the strike, zu Guttenberg's predecessor Franz Josef Jung claimed there were no civilian casualties but the report also proves that his ministry had clear indications that this was not the case, Bild said.

The confidential report, compiled by military police, was also withheld from German prosecutors, the paper said.

More than 100,000 troops under NATO and U.S. command are in Afghanistan fighting a Taliban insurgency now at its deadliest in the eight years since U.S.-led troops toppled the Islamist regime.

Germany, with around 4,300 troops, is the third-largest contributor of troops after the U.S. and Britain. The mission is opposed by a majority of voters in Germany, recent polls have suggested.