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Afghan blasts kill 2 NATO (1 Dutch, 1 US) soldiers 20/04/07

ark

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KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- Separate explosions in southern Afghanistan killed two NATO soldiers on Friday, the alliance said in a statement.

NATO did not identify the dead soldiers or the exact place where they were killed.

Gen. Dick Berlijn, the Dutch defense chief said Friday that a Dutch soldier was killed in an explosion in southern Helmand province while on foot patrol as part of Operation Achilles.

NATO launched Operation Achilles last month to flush out militants entrenched in the opium-producing area.

The soldier is the Dutch contingent's first fatality from hostile action since joining the NATO mission last year.

Most Dutch troops in Afghanistan are stationed in neighboring Uruzgan province on a reconstruction mission, but Dutch forces also have taken part in NATO offensives against the Taliban.

Further details were not immediately available.

The corporal was the sixth Dutch soldier killed on Afghan duty since the government sent nearly 2,000 troops to Uruzgan last August. Three died in aviation accidents, one in an armored car crash and another in an apparent suicide.

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/04/20/afghan.nato.ap/index.html

RIP Soldiers
 
From CANOE, with the usual Fair Dealings disclaimer:

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2007/04/20/4080127-cp.html

Dutch soldier, U.S. engineer killed in mine blasts
   
FORWARD OPERATING BASE ROBINSON, Afghanistan (CP) - Canadian soldiers scrambled for cover in the early-morning hours Friday after the first of two jarring explosions nearby that killed a pair of NATO troops.

The first fatality occurred when a member of a Dutch dismounted patrol detonated a mine less than two kilometres from Forward Operating Base Robinson in the Sangin River valley.

The explosion, which left a towering column of black smoke in the sky, was close enough for members of B troop from the 2nd Royal Canadian Horse Artillery to don their protective gear and seek shelter in a bunker.

The victim was from Tiger Company, a Dutch airborne infantry unit operating out of the base, said 2 RCHA Capt. Chris D'Arcy.

"The Dutch were on a dismounted patrol and struck a mine," D'Arcy said.

"Once they struck the mine, they secured the area and had surveillance circling it. They then withdrew and took their casualties out and evacuated out of there."

Just hours later, another explosion rocked the compound, this time after a U.S. soldier believed to be an engineer responding to the first incident detonated another mine.

"The American and the British engineers who were going out to deal with it, they got hit," D'Arcy said.

An investigation into the two incidents was continuing Friday, but D'Arcy said both incidents were likely the result of anti-tank mines.

Neither the Dutch nor the U.S. soldier's name has been released.


RIP to our NATO/ISAF allies.


 
My condolences to the friends and families of both soldiers.
 
Damn only a day before they we're going back to KAF.

Rest easy soldiers
 
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