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Merkel in surprise visit to Afghanistan, spokesman says


German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrives at the German base in Masar-i-Sharif in Afghanistan Friday morning. (AFP)
AFP, Berlin -
Chancellor Angela Merkel and her Defense Minister Thomas de Maiziere have arrived in Afghanistan for a surprise visit, a German government spokesman said early Friday.
Merkel and de Maiziere went to the German forces’ headquarters in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, the spokesman said, without giving details of the visit. It comes six days after the death of a German soldier, part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan.
A German soldier was killed and another wounded in an attack by insurgents in northern Afghanistan on Saturday.
German special forces had been supporting an Afghan operation near the northern city of Baghlan when insurgents opened fire on the Afghan and NATO International Security Assistance Force troops, according to an army statement posted on its Internet site Sunday.
It added that no information was available about losses among the Afghan forces, but said “presumably” several insurgents had been killed.
It was the first German fatality during two years of working within ISAF.
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