Journalists killed in Afghanistan

Berlin condemned the attack as "atrocious and senseless"

Two German journalists, killed by unidentified attackers in an overnight attack in Afghanistan, have been named.

Karen Fischer, 30, and Christian Struwe, 38, worked for international broadcaster Deutsche Welle.

The pair were shot in the early hours of Saturday while en route from Baghlan province to Bamiyan province in the north of the country.

They were killed in their tent, and were apparently in Afghanistan working on a documentary.

"They were shot dead with AK-47s," Zemarai Bashary, an interior ministry spokesman, told AFP news agency.

Berlin condemned the attack.

"This heinous crime must be solved and the perpetrators brought before justice," Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said in a statement.

He said it would strengthen Germany's resolve to support a democratic government in Kabul.

In 2001, German journalist Volker Handloik was killed along with two French colleagues in a Taleban ambush in Afghanistan.