3 German troops killed in Afghanistan

Seven bystanders also died in the suicide bombing. The casualties were the worst suffered by Germany in almost four years.

By M. Karim Faiez and Laura King

A suicide bomber killed three German soldiers and seven bystanders in the northern city of Kunduz on Saturday, inflicting the worst casualties on German troops in Afghanistan in nearly four years.
Three soldiers and more than a dozen other people were wounded in the attack, which took place in a crowded marketplace after the soldiers stopped to make a purchase.

German troops are deployed mainly in Afghanistan's relatively calm north. Despite appeals from other NATO countries, German leaders have refused to make them available for a broader combat role, largely because the mission in Afghanistan is unpopular with the German public.
The deaths are likely to strengthen resistance in Germany to deployment of the country's troops in more dangerous areas, such as the south and the east. However, the unequal sharing of combat duties has caused strains within the alliance, as have arguments over tactics and whether to try to strike accords with local Taliban-linked leaders.
About 3,200 German soldiers serve in Afghanistan.

The varying levels of security in different parts of the country were underscored by the soldiers' decision to leave their vehicles and enter the market to shop. Such an action would be unthinkable in places like the southern city of Kandahar, where coalition troops routinely speed through town in heavily armed convoys, rarely disembarking from their vehicles in a populated area.

The attack could point to a Taliban strategy of striking in unexpected areas, seeking "softer" targets among the Western forces. Taliban leaders vowed vengeance after Mullah Dadullah, the militia's top operational commander, was killed in a U.S.-led operation in southern Helmand province.

German troops in Afghanistan have not suffered so many casualties in a single incident since four were killed in an explosion near their bus in June 2003.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel condemned the attack, stressing that the German contingent's prime mission is to provide security for humanitarian assistance.

"These perfidious murders fill us all with disgust and horror," news agencies quoted Merkel as saying in a statement. "The German military is carrying out an important mission for the reconstruction and stabilization of Afghanistan. It is the goal of the attackers to destroy the ... successes of this rebuilding process."

NATO has launched a major spring offensive against Taliban insurgents, and battlefield deaths have been creeping upward in recent weeks. Some of the recent fighting has come closer than previously to the capital, Kabul.

Coalition forces said Saturday that several dozen Taliban fighters were believed killed in overnight clashes in eastern Kapisa province, which borders Kabul province.