Czech soldier dies in Afghanistan bomb attack

A Czech soldier was killed in Afghanistan on Wednesday. He died in hospital after a roadside bombing which wounded four other Czech soldiers, one of them seriously. The troops, who were travelling in a Humvee military vehicle when the attack occurred, were serving with a Czech Provincial Reconstruction Team in the province of Logar, south-east of Kabul. In March a military policeman became the first Czech combat casualty of the modern era when he was killed in a suicide attack in Helmand province. Last year another Czech soldier died in Afghanistan in an accident caused by flooding.

Before news of Wednesday’s attack, the lower house of the Czech parliament voted to send more troops to Afghanistan. Around 100 members of a special forces unit are to be sent to the war-torn state. That comes on top of a deployment of over 400 Czech soldiers approved last year.