Kabul, September 10: A preliminary NATO probe has found the German officer who ordered the deadly bombing of captured fuel trucks in Afghanistan guilty of violating procedures.
A report by the military coalition published in the Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily on Thursday charged Colonel Georg Klein with acting beyond his authority and poorly evaluating the situation.
Last Friday, dozens were killed in Afghanistan’s northern province of Kunduz when US warplanes were called in to bomb two NATO fuel trucks captured by Taliban militants lest they might be used as truck bombs against the coalition forces.
It is ‘completely clear’ that Klein did not respect decision-making procedures, said a high-ranking German officer in NATO, noting such a decision should have been referred to the headquarters of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).
According to the report, the airstrike was carried out while ISAF troops were not in imminent danger as the trucks were stuck in the sand and were being closely monitored.
Local Afghan officials have said at least 54 civilians, who had gathered around the tanker trucks seeking fuel, were killed and injured after they found themselves engulfed in flames.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday expressed her ‘deep regret’ for the incident’s civilian toll, but said she would not accept any prejudgments about it.
The bombing has sparked outrage in Afghanistan and beyond, bringing back disputes within Germany on the deployment of its troops to Afghanistan.
—–Agencies