German Friendly Fire Kills 6 Afghan Soldiers

(April 3) -- German troops rushing to the scene of a deadly firefight with the Taliban have mistakenly killed six Afghan soldiers traveling in unmarked civilian cars, in the worst case of friendly fire in Afghanistan in months.

The German soldiers, part of the NATO force there, were hurrying to join a fierce battle Friday afternoon near Kunduz in northern Afghanistan, where three fellow German troops had been shot dead earlier in the day by the Taliban. On their way, they encountered two civilian vehicles and demanded that they stop. When they didn't, a German armored personnel carrier opened fire.

German troops rushing to the scene of a deadly firefight with the Taliban have mistakenly killed at least five Afghan soldiers traveling in unmarked civilian cars

Belgian soldiers patrol the site where three German soldiers were killed in Friday's fighting in Afghanistan's Kunduz province, northwest of Kabul.

The vehicles were later found to have been transporting Afghan troops. Afghan officials are meeting today with NATO commanders to investigate the mix-up.

The Afghan and German militaries both gave details of the incident to several news agencies. Afghan officials said six Afghan soldiers died, but NATO put the figure at five.

In a statement, NATO said it regretted the loss of life in the friendly fire incident. "Although the force attempted to stop the cars using a variety of methods, both vehicles continued to approach," it said. "The force eventually fired on the vehicles."

Germany has the third-largest contingent of foreign troops in Afghanistan, behind the U.S. and Britain, but participation in the war has been deeply unpopular at home. Still, Germany's parliament voted in February to send another 850 troops to Afghanistan, bringing the country's total there to 5,350.

Last September, German military commanders ordered a NATO air strike on two hijacked fuel trucks near Kunduz, which ended up killing dozens of Afghan civilians and sparking outrage in Berlin and Kabul.