Berlin affirms Afghan mission after two soldiers die

Kabul, AfghanistanBerlin  - Germany affirmed its military operations in Afghanistan on Wednesday, two days after a Taliban suicide bomber killed two German soldiers and five Afghan children in the northern city of Kunduz.

"Reconstruction in Afghanistan is impossible without security," government deputy spokesman Thomas Steg said.

He said German Chancellor Angela Merkel had sent condolences to the families of all seven bomb victims.

A plane was carrying the bodies of the two Germans home on Wednesday for a memorial service on Friday.

Last week, Germany's parliament extended an authorization for military operations by 4,500 Germans in Afghanistan for 14 months.

German news media reported Wednesday the discovery on the internet of a six-minute video made by a German who is wanted on terrorism charges, Eric Breininger, 21.

He is suspected of membership in a terrorist group, a crime under German law.

A convert to Islam, Breininger said he was on Afghan soil. He said his fellow militants were "at war with all those who stand on America's side against Muslims," but "I am not personally planning an attack on Germany." (dpa)

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