Head of German armed forces resigns over Afghan civilian bombing
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
Berlin, Nov 26, IRNA -- The head of German armed forces has stepped down from his post over a disputed NATO air strike in Afghanistan in which up to 142 people, many of them civilians, were killed, news reports said here Thursday.
The resignation of General Inspector Wolfgang Schneiderhan was announced by Defense Minister Karl Theodor zu Guttenberg, in parliament, at the start of a debate on extending the German military deployment in Afghanistan.
The minister told lawmakers that Schneiderhan had himself offered his resignation.
The deadly September 4 air strike in Kunduz had triggered major public protest in Germany.
Schneiderhan's resignation followed a report in the top-selling Bild newspaper suggesting that the government had not told the truth about its information of civilian victims in the German-ordered NATO air strike in Kunduz.
Bild alleged that although the German government had knowledge about civilian casualties in the attack, former defense minister Franz Josef Jung had repeatedly insisted that there had been none.
Berlin had also been harshly criticized by fellow NATO and European allies for its handling of the affair.
OT**1422
End News / IRNA / News Code 812449
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