Taliban kill 21-year-old German soldier

KUNDUZ, Afghanistan, April 30 (UPI) -- Two terrorist attacks in northern Afghanistan have killed a German soldier and injured nine others.

Using guns and grenades, Taliban terrorists Wednesday attacked a German patrol near Kunduz, killing a 21-year-old German soldier and injuring four others. Earlier in the day a suicide bomber blew himself up when approaching a German Bundeswehr patrol with his car, injuring five troops, the German Defense Ministry said.

German Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung on Thursday in Berlin denounced the "malicious and criminal" attacks, adding that Germany would not waver when it comes to its engagement in Afghanistan.

The attacks came as German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier was in the country for an unannounced visit that included a meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

"Such attacks will not and must not keep us from continuing our work for a better future for this oppressed people," Steinmeier told reporters.

Thirty-two German soldiers have been killed since the start of the Afghanistan mission, the German Defense Ministry says.

Berlin has some 4,000 troops in the country, serving with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force. They are stationed almost exclusively in the northern provinces; a previously peaceful region, the Taliban have recently stepped up attacks here.