Around 12,500 Afghan migrants to Germany are to be repatriated despite the civil war still raging in parts of their home country, a newspaper report said on Thursday, November 17, Deutsche Welle reports.

According to the report in the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung, which cited a German government document, the Interior Ministry estimates that 5 percent of the almost 247,000 Afghans who had reached Germany by the end of September will probably have to leave.

The government statement justifies the planned move by saying that security was guaranteed in Afghanistan's larger cities.

"A worsening of the security situation in the entire country cannot be confirmed," the newspaper cited the document as saying.

The document said the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) would, however, handle applications for asylum by Afghans on a case-by-case basis, taking into account the risks faced by each applicant.

Some migrants were expected to return of their own accord, it said, but noted that other removals might be by force.

The document is the response by the government to a question posed by the hard-left Left party.