Deaths In Attack On Australians In Afghanistan …
- February 20th, 2011
- Posted by 7thmin
In Afghanistan, an Australian soldier and an Afghan interpreter were killed overnight (19-20.2.11 Australian time), in an attack by Taliban insurgents on an army patrol.
The Australian was Sapper Jamie Larcombe, 21, from the Darwin-based 1st Combat Engineer Regiment – hailing from Kingscote, South Australia.
The men were part of an operation to expand the allied-controlled zone in the Mirabad Valley region of Uruzgan Province.
Other members of the patrol ended the insurgent attack, in which machine guns and small arms were being used.
The Chief of the Defence Force, Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, said Sapper Larcombe, three years in the army, was respected as a reliable soldier and team player.
Twenty-three Australians have now lost their lives serving with the allied force in Afghanistan, organised by the NATO alliance.
Last week a New Zealand soldier was killed in Afghanistan, in a road accident; the second death from that country during the current Afghanistan campaign.
Reference
Department of Defence, Canberra, “Australian soldier killed in Afghanistan”, media release, MECC 76/11, 20.2.11.