Australian soldier killed in Afghanistan
SYDNEY: An Australian soldier has been killed by small arms fire during an encounter with insurgents in Afghanistan, Defence chief Angus Houston said on Tuesday.
The 23 year old, from the Special Operations Task Group, is the fourth Australian to die in the country over the past fortnight and brings to 27 the number of Australians killed in the conflict so far.
"An Australian combat engineer was shot (on Monday evening)," Air Chief Marshal Houston told reporters, adding that he died during a raid on an enemy weapons cache in northern Helmand province.
"Despite the rapid application of first aid and his evacuation the soldier succumbed to his wounds."
His name was withheld at the request of his family.
Houston added that the "massive" cache was blown up by patrol members during the raid.
The soldier's death came as the bodies of Lieutenant Marcus Case and Lance Corporal Andrew Jones, killed in Afghanistan last week, returned home to Melbourne on Monday.
Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011
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