Danish soldier killed in Afghanistan firefight: ISAF
KABUL (AFP) — A Danish soldier was killed and another wounded in a firefight with Taliban insurgents in southern Afghanistan, NATO's International Security Assistance Force said Thursday.
The Danes were on patrol Wednesday in Helmand province, a hotbed of Taliban activity, when they came under fire in the Gereshk area, said an ISAF spokesman in the province, British Lieutenant Colonel Simon Miller.
"Regrettably as a result of the firefight one Danish soldier was killed and another was wounded," Miller said.
Including the latest death, Denmark has lost 13 soldiers in Afghanistan. Two other Danes were killed March 17 in an attack on an ISAF convoy.
More than 30 international soldiers have been killed this year, most of them in hostile action.
Denmark has about 550 troops in Helmand, where most international soliders with ISAF are British.
ISAF draws its 47,000 troops from 39 countries. It is helping the Afghan government restore security in the face of an insurgency by the Taliban, who were in government between 1996 and 2001, and push development.
