Berlin ready to compensate victims of deadly Afghan air attack
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
Berlin, Dec 7, IRNA -- The Germany government voiced readiness to compensate the families and relatives of Afghan civilians killed in an air attack in early September, according to a German official.
The deputy spokesman of the German defense ministry, Christian Dienst told media representatives here Monday that his ministry was in contact with a lawyer representing the victims' families.
Some 142 people were reportedly killed in the September 4 late-night air strike on two fuel tanker trucks hijacked by the Taliban in the north Afghan region of Kunduz.
A German colonel, operating under NATO's Afghan operation, had requested American fighter jets to bomb the fuel trucks while they were stuck in a river bed.
According to Dienst, his ministry was looking into the possibility of an out-of-court settlement to avoid lengthy years of legal wranglings.
"We will be "entering into a dialogue with the victims' lawyer to reach a solution," he added.
The lawyer for the victims' families announced earlier that he planned to file a class-action suit against the government, on behalf of 78 relatives of people killed in the NATO bombing in Kunduz.
Popal had warned that should Berlin refuse to agree to an out-of-court payment, he would sue for compensation for the "flawed and grossly negligent" actions of German military forces.
The deadly air strike has turned into a major political scandal in Germany, leading to the resignation of former German defense minister Franz Josef Jung from his post as labor minister last month over his role in an alleged cover-up of civilian casualties in the NATO air assault in Afghanistan.
OT**1420
End News / IRNA / News Code 829265
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