Secret documents from the Military Police report. They show which information was sent from Afghanistan to the Bundeswehr Operational Command in Potsdam. One says: "Only the inner circle to have knowledge of these procedures. No passing on to third parties."

German Special Forces were involved in the controversial Kunduz air strike which caused the deaths of 142 people, it has been revealed.

What is the KSK? The Kommando Spezialkräfte (KSK) is the elite unit of the Bundeswehr. It was formed in 1996 and is based in Calw in Baden-Württemberg. The unit consists of 1,100 men, with around 400 in the commando companies. 1 / 3 vorheriges Element nächstes Element

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More details are still emerging about the deadly bombing in Afghanistan following the resignation of former Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung after a cover up.

It has now come to light that the elite Kommando Spezialkräfte (KSK) unit played a role in the attack on September 4 which killed 142 people including civilians.

BILD can reveal how the KSK intervened in the strike on two fuel tanker trucks in an overnight covert operation.

At least five officers and NCOs advised Colonel Georg Klein, commander of the German military forces in the Kunduz region.

All five belonged to a secret unit codenamed Task Force 47, or TF47, which had Colonel Klein as its presumptive head.

TF47 comprises approximately half of the KSK soldiers, whose goal is to hunt for Taliban leaders and terrorists. The unit has its own command centre with advanced equipment at the German camp in Kunduz.

The first tip arrived from an Afghan informant on the evening of September 3. The Taliban had reportedly hijacked two gasoline tanker trucks which had then become stuck on a sandbank six kilometres from the German camp.

TF 47 soldiers requested help from an American B1B bomber. In the 90 minutes it took the plane to locate the tanker trucks, Colonel Klein was called to the TF47 command post.

During the night Colonel Klein took over as acting commander of TF47. An internal review by the Bundeswehr said that according to NATO rules, Klein would be allowed to order an attack only in this role.

A TF47 officer spoke approximately seven times by phone throughout the night with the Afghan informant who identified four of the Taliban leaders who were with the tankers, as well as other details.

Although the soldier still remains unnamed he was questioned at length by both NATO and German military police investigators. The fact that he has remained anonymous is directly related to his KSK membership status.

At the TF47 command post, a KSK man led the secret mission protocol.

The new information verifies a previously unknown fact that the elite forces played an important role.

In the first military police report drawn up immediately after the bombing, it was not apparent from the documents which people contributed to decision-making on the night of attack.

The TF47 mission protocol will be withheld from NATO investigators due to German national security issues.

Task Force 47 is mentioned in the 575-page secret NATO Final Report, but without any reference to the KSK.

According to information provided to BILD, then-Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung was informed of the KSK’s participation but did not make this knowledge public.

What does his successor have to say about the new details?

A spokesman for Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg told BILD: “Task Force 47 was also the subject of the briefing to the co-ordinators of the Defence Committee on November 6.”

The fact that a unit of elite KSK troops was serving with TF47 was not mentioned.

Karim Popal, a lawyer and advocate for the victims, told the Hannover ‘Neue Presse’ newspaper that there were at least 137 civilian victims killed, as well as 22 missing and 20 injured.

“We alone have registered 91 widows of victims of the bombardment as well as 163 orphans.”

Popal spent six weeks in Kunduz investigating the incident along with fellow lawyers, and said he was absolutely certain his team’s research was correct.

“We have identification documents of victims and relatives and we are also prepared to conduct DNA tests.”

No one wanted “money to flow to the Taliban”, explained the lawyer, who is from Bremenand of Afghan origin.

“It is about helping the families, helping the widows and the many orphans.”

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