A German court has decided to hear a lawsuit brought by the relatives of Afghan civilians killed in the 2009 airstrike in northern Kunduz province.
According to German media reports, 79 families are seeking 3.3 million euros ($4.3 million) over the Nato airstrike or between $26,000 and $98,000 per victim.
The regional court in Bonn said on April 17 that it will first determine the events that led to the airstrike before deciding on the compensatory claims, German news agencies reported.
The lawsuit is being undertaken in Germany because it was German Colonel Georg Klein who ordered the September 3 strike on the two fuel tanker trucks that had been hijacked by Taliban militants.
The case will determine whether the Germans knew that scores of civilians had made their way to the tankers to collect fuel and whether they deliberately did not tell the US pilots who carried out the bombing.
The Bonn court has requested for the video evidence recorded by US fighter planes to be released by the German government within a month. It has also called for recordings between the pilots and the German forward air controller who guided the attack, according to multiple media reports.
Col Klein is also expected to be called to answer questions.
The lawyer representing the claimants, Karim Popal, said that 137 civilians were killed in the airstrike but the official figure according to the Germany government is 91.
Germany has previously paid 320,000 euros to the families affected by the Kunduz airstrike although this was given as humanitarian aid and not compensation.