Roadside bomb kills 5 Polish soldiers in eastern Afghanistan

[News_Editor]

Roadside bomb kills 5 Polish soldiers in eastern Afghanistan

2011-12-22 19:47:03 GMT+7 (ICT)

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN (BNO NEWS) -- A roadside bomb struck a coalition patrol in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday morning, killing five Polish soldiers, officials said on Thursday.

The Polish Ministry of National Defense said five of its soldiers were killed when an improvised explosive device (IED) exploded under an Oshkosh M-ATV vehicle in the Ghazni district of the province which carries the same name. The Polish soldiers were protecting specialists from the Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) Ghazni.

"MEDEVAC (medical evacuation) helicopters were called immediately," said Lieutenant Colonel Miroslaw Ochyra, a spokesman for the Polish Air Force. " Another patrol fulfilling tasks in the southern part of Ghazni was directed for support as well."

A farewell ceremony for the fallen soldiers took place at a base in Ghazni on Thursday and was attended by both Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Polish Minister of National Defense Tomasz Siemoniak. "The cruel war meant that we came to you today on behalf of all Polish people to express our pain and sorrow," Tusk said.

Coalition casualties in Afghanistan have been rising sharply in recent years with a total coalition death toll of 709 in 2010, making it the deadliest year for international troops since the war began in response to the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States.

There are currently more than 130,000 ISAF troops in Afghanistan, including some 90,000 U.S. troops and more than 2,400 Polish soldiers. U.S. President Barack Obama previously ordered a drawdown of 10,000 American troops later this year, with another 23,000 U.S. troops to return home next year.

So far this year, at least 554 coalition service members have been killed in Afghanistan. Most troops are American and are killed in the country's south, which is plagued by IED attacks on troops and civilians.

The deadliest incident during the ten-year-long war happened in August 2011 when a U.S. helicopter crashed in eastern Afghanistan, killing 30 U.S. troops, seven Afghan troops and an Afghan interpreter.

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