SYDNEY: An Australian soldier on his first tour of Afghanistan was gunned down by insurgents along with an Afghan translator, military officials said Sunday.Sapper Jamie Ronald Larcombe, 21, was the 23rd Australian soldier to die in the country since 2001, when the Taliban regime was ousted in a US-led invasion.

Larcombe was shot on a patrol in the restive southern Mirabad region on Saturday in an attack which also claimed the life of a local translator, said defence chief Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston.The men were hit by a volley of machine gun and small arms fire and could not be revived despite immediate first aid, said Houston.

"Unfortunately the soldier and interpreter showed no signs of life despite best efforts," he said. Larcombe was the second Australian soldier to die in Afghanistan this month.

Australia is the largest non-NATO contributor of troops to the decade-long fight against Taliban militants, with a contingent of some 1,500 soldiers.Prime Minister Julia Gillard said Larcombe had died "taking the fight to insurgents" and stressed that she remained committed to the international mission."We are committed to our mission to see it through, to deny Afghanistan as a training base for terrorists," she said. "Today I am immeasurably sad but I am certainly very determined to see the mission through."