Kabul, Afghanistan – In a rare attack in Afghanistan’s relatively calm north, a suicide bomber detonated himself next to German soldiers shopping in a crowded market Saturday, killing three of them, along with seven Afghan civilians, officials said.
The attack in the city of Kunduz came after two German vehicles on a security patrol stopped in the market and soldiers got out on foot to do some shopping, said Kunduz provincial police chief Gen. Ayub Salangi.
In addition to the three German soldiers killed, two were seriously wounded, said German Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung, who broke short a trip to Denmark to rush back to Berlin.
He said the other seven soldiers and one policemen in the group suffered minor injuries.
Seven Afghan civilians were also killed and 13 wounded, including seven seriously, said Azizullah Safer, director of the provincial health department.
A purported Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, said a Taliban militant named Mullah Jawad from Baghlan province carried out the attack.
The claim could not be independently verified.
Germany has 3,000 troops as part of the NATO force in Afghanistan. Germany’s contingent is stationed in the northern part of the country, which sees relatively few attacks and is considered safer than the south and east, where most of the country’s fighting takes place.
