KABUL: An Australian special forces soldier has been killed and two of his fellow troops wounded in a gun battle with insurgents in southern Afghanistan.
The chief of the Australian Defence Force, Lieutenant General David Hurley, said the soldier from the Sydney-based 2nd Commando Regiment was killed on Saturday on his fifth tour of Afghanistan.
He is the 40th Australian casualty of the campaign and the first since October. His name has not been released at the request of his family. General Hurley said he was a decorated soldier and had previously served in Iraq and East Timor.
His comrades had described him as “one of the most iconic figures in the regiment” and a true leader. Hurley said a seriously wounded Australian soldier was flown to Kandahar for surgery to a gunshot wound and was expected to make a full recovery. An Australian airman was treated for minor wounds at the Australian base at Tarin Kowt.
Australian troops had been supporting an operation by elite Afghan troops of the Uruzgan Provincial Response Company in southern Afghanistan. He is the first Australian soldier to die in Afghanistan since Corporal Scott Smith was killed by an improvised explosive device last October.
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard expressed her condolences to the family of the soldier and said the nation would be hit hard by the loss. Gillard said his death was a stark reminder that the dangers facing ADF personnel were still very real even as Australia prepared to withdraw troops from Afghanistan. “I think many had probably lulled themselves into a false sense of security that we would see no more losses in Afghanistan,” she said.
the Guardian
