When the Bundeswehr spreads pictures from Afghanistan, the troupe likes to show waving children. To this day, the impression remains that German soldiers are popular with the people of the Hindu Kush.
On Wednesday, a different picture emerged in the capital Kabul. According to a statement by the German Armed Forces, two groups of the Bundeswehr were attacked by a furious mob at a shooting range and thrown with stones.
According to initial investigations, the Germans were traveling to a shooting range near the airport of the Afghan capital. At the entrance to the sprawling complex gathered around their vehicles about 50 people, including many children. People stopped the convoys and chanted slogans.
Read more on SPIEGEL +
At first people only shouted, but then stones flew on the successive arriving vehicles, several were damaged. Later, some of the group cut open the tarpaulin tarpaulins and stole material stored on them. According to initial findings, it is a night vision goggles - weapons or ammunition but had not been lost, it said in Bundeswehr circles.
In order to free the convoy from the distress, one of the soldiers finally fired a warning shot with a flare pistol. A little later, the alarmed Afghan police drove the crowd apart, the vehicles could continue.
Why the crowd attacked the Germans, is still being determined. So far, such attacks on German soldiers are a rarity. The soldiers involved belong to the contingent of German trainers who support the Afghan army as part of the NATO "Resolute Support" mission.
The scene of the incident awakens dark memories for experienced users. In August 2007, three federal police working as bodyguards at the Embassy in Kabul were killed in a bomb attack on their car at the same firing range.