Two German soldiers wounded in an Afghan bomb ambush were being kept in an artificial coma Friday after their arrival in Germany on an overnight medical-evacuation flight, according to dpa. Both were in intensive care but neither was in critical condition, the chief medical officer at the armed forces hospital in Koblenz, Christoph Veith, said. It was too early to see if they would remain maimed. The hospital did not disclose the nature of their injuries, but Erwin Kollig, the chief emergency-room surgeon, said they would not have survived the blast if their vehicle had not been armoured. German army doctors operated on one of the men in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan and he was again operated on in Koblenz. The two seriously wounded paratroopers arrived home in Germany on an air-force plane in the small hours and were taken straight to the military hospital in Koblenz in the west of the country. The detonation of the roadside mine, planted by Taliban militants in northern Afghanistan, has resonated loud in Germany, where many voters are uncomfortable about foreign military deployments and casualties are big news. The 506-bed military hospital at Koblenz is rated as one of the most advanced clinics in the whole of Germany. The third member of crew of the vehicle hit by the mine Thursday survived with minor injuries and was not evacuated. The German military said the vehicle hit was a wheeled armoured infantry vehicle, a Dingo, that can carry up to eight soldiers. The Taliban took responsibility for the attack in Kunduz. Germany has around 3,500 soldiers in Afghanistan as part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), the bulk of them stationed in the North and the capital Kabul. German authorities have so far withstood pressure by other NATO members - including the US, Canada and Britain - to send soldiers to the southern region, where forces from other alliance members are fighting the resurgent Taliban.
