Germany says to pay damages to Afghan strike victims

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's government will pay compensation to the families of civilian victims of September's German-ordered air strike in Afghanistan which Kabul says killed 30 civilians as well as insurgents, a spokesman said on Monday.

A defence ministry spokesman told reporters that German officials had been in contact with a lawyer representing the victims' relatives.

"We have said we will be in touch with him to discuss the demands for compensation. We will look at how this is to be done in concrete terms," Defence Ministry spokesman Christian Dienst said at a regular government news conference.

"The question will be whether we want a legal battle stretching over years or whether we can come to an agreement out of court," said Dienst, adding a solution would be found.

New revelations about the controversial air strike, near the northern Afghan city of Kunduz, has thrust the issue of Afghanistan into the spotlight and caused Chancellor Angela Merkel a major headache at the start of her second term.

Former Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung was forced to resign from the cabinet last month over accusations he covered up the civilian toll of the strike in the weeks leading up to a federal election on Sept. 27.

In addition, the head of Germany's armed forces quit over the affair and lawmakers have agreed to launch a parliamentary inquiry into what Merkel's previous government, comprising her conservatives and the Social Democrats, knew about the strike.

The Afghan government has said the air strike killed 30 civilians as well as 69 insurgents.

Last week, Germany's lower house of parliament voted to extend for a year a mandate allowing the government to send up to 4,500 soldiers to Afghanistan as part of NATO's mission.

The government has suggested it could lift troop levels after a conference in London next month but polls show public opinion is against the deployment.

(Reporting by Madeline Chambers; Editing by Charles Dick)