German ISAF Troops Honor Fallen Soldier

"We will not yield to the attackers, murderers, and hate preachers," the commander of the German ISAF contingent, General Hans-Christoph Ammon, said during the memorial service for the German peacekeeper.

"ISAF stands for hope and confidence in this oppressed country," Ammon said. "Let us see this loss we've been forced to bear as reason to increase our efforts even more."

Al Qaeda involved, Afghans say

On Tuesday, Afghan police blamed al Qaeda militants working with insurgents from the Taliban for the attacks, and said nine people -- including several Afghan civilians -- had been killed, excluding the attackers.

The first blast occurred in the early afternoon when an attacker drove a car packed with explosives into an ISAF armored vehicle. Just over an hour later, another suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden taxi into an ISAF convoy on the same road leading to the eastern city of Jalalabad.

Two other German soldiers with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force were severely injured in the attacks, ISAF said. They are expected to arrive back in Cologne, Germany, on Tuesday evening. The body of the soldier who was killed will be flown back to Germany on Wednesday, a Bundeswehr spokesman told dpa.

Sustained commitment

Despite the German loss, designated German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said the new coalition government expected to take office this month would stand by Germany's Afghan force.

"On the basic question of whether this deployment in Afghanistan is first of all justified, secondly makes political sense, and thirdly will be continued, nothing will change in our view," he told N24 television.

Monday's attack brought to 18 the number of Germans killed in attacks or accidents in Afghan peacekeeping operations.