Troops to stay

"I condemn this cowardly act and my thoughts are with the family of the killed solider and his injured companions," Chancellor Angela Merkel said in an interview with the newspaper Neue Presse.

"However," she went on, "it would be wrong to withdraw our troops in Afghanistan from the mission that we, with the international community, have taken over."

Merkel said it was in German interests to stabilise the country so that "the world never has to face another terror attack like that of September 11".

Chancellor Merkel believes the combination of military engagement and civil reconstruction are the only ways to achieve that.

Germany's foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, on tour in Afghanistan, also echoed Merkel's message, telling soldiers based in Masar-i-Scharif, that "the mission will continue."

Soldier's body comes home

Meanwhile, the body of the 21-year-old solider killed this week while on patrol is scheduled to arrive home in Germany on Saturday. A private ceremony, closed to the media and public, will be held.

An official funeral service is planned this coming week in the southern state of Baden-Wuerttemberg.

Two other soldiers injured in the attack will also return to Germany for further treatment.

The soldiers had been patrolling an area north-west of the city of Kunduz when they were attacked with small arms and grenades on Wednesday. Seven other wounded soldiers have remained in Masar-i-Scharif for treatment.

This latest death brings the number of German soldiers killed while serving with the NATO-led International Security and Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan to 32.