The Taliban shot with personal firearms at helicopters carrying Germany's military top brass, but hurt no one, defence sources in Berlin said Sunday, confirming a newspaper report. One of the three aircraft in the incident Friday near Kunduz, Afghanistan was carrying Defence Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg and the chief of military staff, General Wolfgang Schneiderhan.
Both the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung and the Bild am Sonntag newspapers said Guttenberg was told during the flight that his helicopter had just been shot at from the ground with assault rifles. The CH-53 helicopters continued to Termes, Uzbekistan as scheduled.
The Sunday newspapers said another German CH-53 was hit in flight on Wednesday by automatic-weapons fire. It was later found to have four bullet holes in a clip-on fuel tank. For security reasons, Guttenberg's Friday visit to the main German base at Kunduz, Afghanistan was not announced in advance.