Norwegian Navy Lieutenant Christian Lian

Lieutenant Christian Lian

Norwegian Navy Lieutenant Christian Lian, aged 31, from Kristiansand, was one of four Norwegian military personnel killed in Afghanistan on 27th June 2010.

The four personnel were all in the same car driving along a road in the Faryab province when a roadside bomb was detonated by Taliban insurgents.

The four men were all fatally wounded in the attack.

Lt. Lian served with the Coastal Rangers.

Nowegian Navy Commander, Trond Bolle

Lt. Commander Trond Bolle

Norwegian Navy Commander, Trond Andre Bolle, aged 41, from Lena, was one of four Norwegian military personnel killed in Afghanistan on 27th June 2010.

The four personnel were all in the same car driving along a road in the Faryab province when a roadside bomb was detonated by Taliban insurgents.

The four men were all fatally wounded in the attack.

Lt. Commander Bolle served with Norwegian Naval Command.

Norwegian Navy ensign, Simen Tokle

Lt. Simen Tokle

Norwegian Navy Ensign, 2nd Lieutenant Simen Tokle, aged 24, from Ballia, was one of four Norwegian military personnel killed in Afghanistan on 27th June 2010.

The four personnel were all in the same car driving along a road in the Faryab province when a roadside bomb was detonated by Taliban insurgents.

The four men were all fatally wounded in the attack.

Lt. Tokle served with the Coastal Rangers.

Norwegian, Andreas Eldjarn

Andreas Eldjarn

Norwegian Navy Quartermaster, Andreas Eldjarn, aged 21, from Tromso, was one of four Norwegian military personnel killed in Afghanistan on 27th June 2010.

The four personnel were all in the same car driving along a road in the Faryab province when a roadside bomb was detonated by Taliban insurgents.

The four men were all fatally wounded in the attack.

QM Eldjarn served with the Coastal Rangers.

Polish sapper, Corporal Pawel Stypula

Corporal Paweł Stypuła

On 26th June 2010 at about 19.45 (local time) in the southern part of Ghazni province, Polish sapper, Corporal Paweł Stypuła, was killed while defusing a land mine.

His team had been called by a Polish patrol who had narrowly escaped the blast from another IED.

Corporal Stypula, aged 26, was serving with the 2nd Masovian Sappers Brigade.

Journalist, James Hunter killed

James Hunter

James Hunter, 25, was a staff sergeant and journalist with the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division. He was killed by an improvised explosive device while covering his unit's foot patrols in Kandahar. He was the first Army journalist killed in action in Afghanistan since U.S. military operations began in October 2001.

Hunter would escort visiting journalists at times, but Kimberly Warren, editor of The Fort Campbell Courier, who worked with Hunter for about three years, said he frequently filed stories and photographs for her paper.  

The Courier serves troops stationed at Fort Campbell (on the border of the U.S. states of Kentucky and Tennessee) and the base's surrounding civilian communities. The Associated Press quoted Hunter's colleagues as saying that Hunter also wrote, edited, and designed a monthly magazine. 

Hunter was on his first deployment to Afghanistan when he was killed. He had served twice in Iraq, Warren said.

Italian Army Corporal Francis Xavier Positano

Corporal Francis Xavier Positano, aged 29, died in an accident on the road between Shindand and Herat, on 23rd June 2010. He served with the 32nd Engineers Regiment, the Brigade Alpine Taurinense.

A column of armoured vehicles was on a reconnaisance patrol when Cpl. Positano apparantly fell from a vehicle. He suffered a serious head injury in the fall and was evacuated by helicopter to an American Field Hospital but died shortly after arriving there.

If anyone has a positive photo of Corporal Positano, please contact us so that we can add it to his obituary.

IED kills two Romanian troops

Two Romanian troops were killed 23rd June 2010 near Qalat, after their Humvee was hit by a makeshift remotely detonated explosive device.

According to the Romanian Defense Ministry, the two soldiers were part of the 33rd Maneuver Battalion in Afghanistan.

"Sergeant-Major Dan Ciobotaru and Corporal Paul Caracuda were on a mission on the Kabul-Kandahar motorway. Around 30 km away from Qalat, their Humvee was attacked with a remotely detonated explosive device. The two soldiers lost their lives in the explosion," the Defense Ministry said.

Ciobotaru was 28 and not married. Caracuda, 36, had been employed with the Defense Ministry since 1996. He was married and had two children.

Australian Commandos killed in Afghanistan

THREE Australian soldiers killed in a chopper crash in Afghanistan have been named.

Privates Tim Aplin, 38, Ben Chuck, 27, and Scott Palmer, 27, were killed when a chopper crashed in southern Kandahar province yesterday.

All three were from the Sydney-based 2nd Commando Regiment.

L-R: Ben Chuck, Tim Aplin, Scott Palmer

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Click here to see listing of all Australian military fatalities

French Parachute Hussar officer killed

French Brigadier, Steeve COCOLI, 1st Parachute Hussar Regiment Tarbes, was killed and an Afghan civilian and seriously wounded an insurgent indirect fire that struck the position advanced combat (Combat outpost - COP ) Hutnik Tagab Valley in Kapisa. 

Steeve COCOLI, 1st Parachute Hussar

By early evening , an indirect fire hit the COP Hutnik where about 150 French soldiers deployed . A French military has been very seriously injured . An Afghan civilian working as an interpreter with the French forces , was also seriously injured .

The French military and Afghan civilian were evacuated by helicopter to the French military hospital in Kabul where the French military has succumbed to his injuries . He belonged to the 1st Parachute Hussar Regiment of Tarbes.

CATF Surobi and Afghan kandaks operate from forward combat positions ( COP - Combat outpost ) Hutnik ( formerly COP 46) and 51 which were built through the joint efforts of the brigade La Fayette , particularly the FT Altor which arms the CATF Surobi since January , and Afghan security forces of the 3rd Brigade.

Polish Private First Class Grzegorz Bukowski

Pfc Grzegorz Bukowski

On 15th June 2010, Taliban insurgents launched a missile attack on the coalition military Warrior base.

Polish Private 1st Class, Grzegorz Bukowski, aged 29, and serving with the Polish Military Police, was killed by shrapnel from the attack.

Two other soldiers were injured in the incident.

IED blast kills Danish soldier

COPENHAGEN - The Danish army says an explosion in southern Afghanistan has killed one of its soldiers and wounded four.

The Army Operational Command says 33-year-old Martin Kristiansen was killed by an explosive device that hit his vehicle near the Budwan patrol base in Helmand province. Kristiansen and the four wounded were taken by helicopter to the field hospital in Camp Bastion.

Denmark has lost 31 soldiers in Afghanistan since it joined the U.S.-led coalition in 2002. Earlier this month the Nordic country lost its first female soldier in the conflict.

Polish soldier, Corporal Milosz Gorka

Corporal Milosz Gorka

A Polish convoy of Rosomak APC vehicles was ambushed near the Forward Operating Base (FOB) Warrior in Ghazni province 12th June 2010.

Taliban insurgents detonated a roadside bomb which killed Polish gunner, Corporal Milosz Gorka, aged 25. He served with the 25th Air Cavalry Brigade.

Three other soldiers suffered minor injuries in the attack.

Australian killed by IED

The Australian Defence Force announces the death of Sapper Darren Smith during operations in Afghanistan.

Sapper Smith died as a result of wounds sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated on 7 June, 2010. 

Sapper Smith, 26, was from the Brisbane-based 2nd Combat Engineer Regiment.

His deployment as part of 1st Mentoring Task Force (MTF-1) was his first operational deployment. He deployed in March 2010. As part of his tour he has been awarded the Australian Active Service Medal with Clasp International Campaign against Terrorism (ICAT), NATO Service Medal, and the Afghanistan Campaign Medal. Sapper Smith has also been awarded the Australian Defence Medal. 

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Click here to see listing of all Australian military fatalities

Australian sapper killed by IED

Jacob Moerland

Sapper Jacob Moerland died as a result of wounds sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated on 7 June, 2010.  Sapper Jacob Moerland, 21, was from Brisbane-based 2nd Combat Engineer Regiment. 

He enlisted on 9 July 2007 and completed his Initial Recruit Training at 1st Recruit Training Battalion in (1RTB) in October 2007.

After completing his driver courses and the suite of Combat Engineer Courses in May 2008, Sapper Moerland was posted to 2nd Combat Engineer Regiment (2CER), Brisbane. 

2CER was his first posting as a Combat Engineer. Whilst at 2CER, he went on to complete a number of courses including: Protected Mobility Vehicle Driver course in April 2009 and Combat First Aider in August 2009. His deployment as part of 1st Mentoring Task Force was his first operation, deploying in January this year.

As part of his tour he has been awarded the Australian Active Service Medal with Clasp International Campaign against Terrorism (ICAT), NATO Medal and the Afghanistan Campaign Medal. Along with the awarding of his AASM. 

Sapper Moerland leaves behind his fiancéé, Kezia who lives in Brisbane.

He was 21-years-old and was born in Cairns, Queensland.

French Legionnaire killed in RPG attack

French Foreign Legionnaire, Sergeant Konrad Rygiel member of the GCP unit of the 2nd REP was killed Monday, June 7, 2010 afternoon by shrapnel from a rocket fired by an RPG-7 in the province of Kapisa in Afghanistan.

Female Danish soldier killed by IED

Private Sophia Bruun

Denmark deploys woman soldiers at the frontline alongside their male colleagues. Private Sophia Bruun was such a soldier, and she is the first Danish female fallen in Afghanistan.

Private Sophia Bruun, 22, was killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan. On Tuesday 1 June 2010 at 1207 pm local time, private Bruun’s vehicle was hit by an improvised explosive device and she was killed instantly.

Private Bruun was on patrol with her unit in the vicinity of Patrol Base Bridzar, which is located about four miles northeast of Gereshk. She was on duty as the gunner on a Piranha Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC).