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German minister resigns over Afghan cover-up

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-11-28 01:59

BERLIN: German former defence minister and current Labor Minister Franz Josef Jung resigned on Friday over widespread accusation of covering up information on an air strike in Afghanistan in September this year that killed as many as 142 people.

"I take political responsibility," Jung, 50, told a press conference here in Berlin.

Jung thus will be the first minister who resigns within Chancellor Angela Merkel's new cabinet, which had just taken office in October.  

Jung had been defence minister in Merkel's last cabinet from 2005-2009, he shifted to be the minister of labor within Merkel's current government.  

Earlier on Thursday, Germany's military chief of staff, Wolfgang Schneiderhan, and Deputy Defense Minister Peter Wichert resigned when it emerged that the defense ministry had attempted to keep the civilian deaths a secret.

During a debate at the German parliament on Thursday, Jung defended his actions in the aftermath of Germany's deadly airstrike in early September, but the calls for his resignation are reaching fever pitch across the country.