Berlin, Aug 8, IRNA -- A German colonel, who ordered the NATO bombing in north Afghanistan in 2009 during which more than 140 people were killed, is to be promoted to the ranks of general, defense ministry spokesman Stefan Paris told media representatives here Wednesday

Georg Klein who gave the green light for the September 4, 2009 late-night air strike on two fuel tanker trucks hijacked by the Taliban in the north Afghan region of Kunduz, will be formally named general in late 2013.

Klein's actions which the Afghan victims' families said was tantamount

to "war crimes," led to the resignation of then-German defense minister Franz Josef Jung over his role in an alleged cover-up of civilian casualties in the NATO air assault in Afghanistan.

To this day, Klein has neither been tried in a military court nor has he been disciplined by the army for his deadly order.