BERLIN, Germany

Five Dane and German soldiers killed earlier this month while trying to defuse a rocket in Afghanistan may have been guilty of ``incorrect conduct,'' Germany's defense minister told a Sunday newspaper.

Also, a magazine reported that the soldiers broke a string of safety rules during the incident, including using a hammer and screwdriver on the Russian-made missile instead of specialized tools.

Defense Minister Rudolf Scharping acknowledged to Germany's Bild am Sonntag that there were ``strong indications for incorrect conduct'' during the March 6 incident. He declined to give details of an ongoing inquiry.

The March 6 blast killed three Danes and two Germans and injured eight other soldiers, three seriously. The injured have yet to be questioned, Scharping said.

A preliminary report by a team of German and Danish experts has been handed to German prosecutors, who last week opened a criminal investigation against the German soldier in charge at the disposal site near Kabul.

The findings have not been made public, but German news magazine Der Spiegel said the experts listed a string of safety procedures disregarded by the soldiers.

Rather than destroying two missiles in a controlled explosion, the soldiers decided to defuse and dismantle them in order to take them home for training purposes, Der Spiegel said, citing a copy of the report.

Also, the procedure for dismantling the rocket was not followed and far more soldiers were in the area than usually allowed, the magazine said.

The troops were part of the 4,500-strong International Security Assistance Force in Kabul. The deaths were the first since the force arrived in December in an effort to maintain order following the U.S.-led ouster of the Taliban regime.