Soldier deaths

Chancellor Angela Merkel said three German soldiers killed on Good Friday in a Taliban ambush in Afghanistan had paid "the highest price a soldier can pay," but defended her government's Afghan policy, saying it was protecting Germans against terrorist attacks.

"Our troops perform their service and fight in Afghanistan because we want to prevent terrorists attacking us here in Germany as well," she said at the service in a small church near the soldiers' barracks.

Merkel cut short her Easter holiday to attend the memorial service in the northern town of Selsingen on Friday afternoon.

"I stand completely aware behind the operations of our soldiers, police officers and civilian aid workers because they are serving the security of our land," she said.

"(These three soldiers) have paid the highest price a soldier can pay. I bow before them. Germany bows before them."

Merkel again rejected calls by some German politicians to withdraw troops from Afghanistan, saying to do so would be "irresponsible."

She added that military operations and civilian reconstruction must go hand in hand, and that "without security, there is no reconstruction."

Germany at 'war'

The three soldiers - 35-year-old Nils Bruns, 25-year-old Robert Hartert and 28-year-old Martin Augustyniak - were killed on Good Friday last week in an attack by Taliban insurgents.

Eight other soldiers were wounded in the attack, four of them critically.

German Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, who also attended the memorial service, has begun to refer to the military operation in Afghanistan as a "war," something which Merkel said she understands well.

Merkel has begun to assert herself more strongly in the debate over developments in Afghanistan, with a government spokesman announcing her plans to visit the Bundeswehr task force in Potsdam on Saturday.

Criticism from the left

Merkel's attendance of the funeral was sharply denounced by the Left Party, with member of parliament Christine Buchholz calling it "hypocritical."

"The chancellor bears responsibility for the death of the three soldiers," she said. "She sent them to Afghanistan, even though she knew that the security situation in the north has dramatically deteriorated."

Merkel's Christian Democratic party (CDU) fought back against the Left Party's accusations and demanded an immediate apology from Buchholz.

"The responsibility for the death of the three soldiers - and for many other casualities in Afghanistan - lies with the Taliban terrorists," said CDU General Secretary Hermann Groehe.

"(Buchholz) is using a horrible event for political propaganda. That's outrageous," he said.

acb/dpa/AFP/Reuters
Editor: Kyle James