Five Polish soldiers killed by bomb blast in Ghazni province

Five Polish soldiers were killed on 21st December 2011 in Ghazni province when an insurgent bomb was detonated beside their patrol. The soldiers, serving with the 20th Mechanized Brigade of Bartoszyce were specialists from a provincial reconstruction team. They were travelling in an armored vehicle when the bomb exploded.

They were immediately evacuated by helicopter to a military field hospital.

Polish spokesman Jacek Sonta said in Warsaw that the soldiers were in a convoy headed to Rawza, in eastern Ghazni province, when it struck the bomb.

The five soldiers (all were posthumously promoted) have been named as:
Sergeant Krystian Banach
Sergeant Marek Tomala
Sergeant Marcin Szczurowski
Sergeant Lukasz Krawiec
Warrant Officer Piotr Ciesielski

Polish Army Senior Private Szymon Sitarczuk

Polish Army Senior Private Szymon Sitarczuk, age 28, was killed in action on 18th August 2011 in the northern part of Ghazni province. His unit was on patrol when a bomb exploded. The explosion was followed by a gun battle with enemy forces.

Snr. Pvt. Sitarczuk served with 1st Company of Motorised Infantry of "Alfa" Combat Group. He had served in 1st Sappers Brigade since 2004. He was on his second deployment to Afghanistan.

Polish Commando, Warrant Officer Bartosz Spychała

WO Spychala

Warrant Officer Bartosz Spychała of the Polish 1st Special Commando Regiment died on Sunday at the military base in Ghazni, south east Afghanistan.

"The circumstances of the death of our colleague are currently subject to clarification by medical staff and military police,” says a statement on the web site of the Polish armed forces.

The 39 year-old officer leaves behind a wife and 15 year-old daughter.

WO Spychała began his military career in 1992 at the military unit in Bialystok and served with the 1st Special Commando Regiment based in Lubliniec since 1994.

Polish medic, Marcin Knap

Marcin Knap

A Polish civilian medic, serving with the Polish Army was killed on 23rd January 2011, as a result of a mine blast during a routine patrol in Afghanistan’s Ghazni province. 

Medic, Marcin Knap, aged 34, was travelling in a Rosomak armoured vehicle, when it drove over a mine in the south-eastern region of the Ghazni province during a joint patrol with Polish soldiers and Afghan police forces.

Mr. Knap is survived by his wife.

Polish soldier, Pfc Marcin Pastusiak

Pfc. Marcin Pastusiak

A Polish soldier was killed on 23rd January 2011, as a result of a mine blast during a routine patrol in Afghanistan’s Ghazni province. 

The explosion occured as a Rosomak armoured vehicle he was travelling in drove over a mine in the south-eastern region of the Ghazni province during a joint patrol with Polish soldiers and Afghan police forces.

Private First Class Marcin Pastusiak, age 26, was a member of the Military Police’s Special Unit in Minsk Mazowiecki. He had previously served a tour of duty in Lebanon in 2008. He was unmarried.

POLAND Military Fatalities in Afghanistan

List of Polish military fatalities in Afghanistan since 2007

Date	Name	Rank	Age	Unit	Cause
2013
20-Mar	Ordynski, Pawel	Private 1st	29	12th Mechanized Brigade	IED
23-Jan	Woźniak, Krzysztof	Captain	36	Special Forces (GROM)	Hostile fire
2011
22-Dec	Biskup, Zbigniew	Sergeant	35	Air-Assault Group
21-Dec	Ciesielski, Piotr	Jr Ensign	33	20th Mechanised Brigade	IED
21-Dec	Krawiec, Lukasz	Sergeant	24	20th Mechanised Brigade	IED
21-Dec	Szczurowski, Marcin	Sergeant	30	20th Mechanised Brigade	IED
21-Dec	Tomala, Marek	Sergeant	25	20th Mechanised Brigade	IED
21-Dec	Banach, Krystian	Sergeant	22	20th Mechanised Brigade	IED
23-Oct	Deptula, Mariusz	Private 1st	28	15th Giżycko Mechanized	IED
04-Oct	Nowakowski, Rafal	L-Corporal	30	17th Wielkopolska Mechanised	IED
18-Aug	Sitarczuk, Szymon	Sr Corporal	28	17th Wielkopolska Mechanised	IED
28-Jul	Poświat, Paweł	L-Corporal	29	17th Wielkopolska Mechanised	IED
02-Jun	Mackowiak, Jaroslaw	Sr Corporal	27	17th Wielkopolska Mechanised	Hostile fire
27-Apr	Staniaszek, Pawel	Private 1st	29	2nd Mazovians Engineers	IED
03-Apr	Spychala, Bartosz	WO	39	1st Special Commando
22-Jan	Pastusiak, Marcin	Private 1st	26	Military Police	IED
22-Jan	Knap , Marcin	Medic	34	Medical Service	IED
2010
14-Oct	Borzyszkowski, Adam	Private 1st	28	1 Air Cavalry	Mortar attack
27-Sep	Kasprzak, Kazimierz	Sergeant	32	Polish Army	IED
06-Aug	Tylenda, Dariusz	Private 1st	31	Polish Army	IED
26-Jun	Stypula,Pawel	Corporal	26	2nd Sapper Brigade	IED
15-Jun	Bukowski, Grzegorz	Private 1st	29	Military Police	RPG attack
12-Jun	Górka Milosz, Aleksander	Corporal	25	25th Air Cavalry Brigade	Hostile fire
2009
19-Dec	Kolek, Michal	Private 1st	22	Not reported	Hostile fire
09-Oct	Graczyk, Szymon	Private 1st	23	5 Engineer Regt.	IED
09-Oct	Szyszkiewicz, Radoslaw	Private 1st	22	5 Engineer Regt.	IED
11-Sep	Marciniak, Piotr	Private 1st	30	6th Airborne	Hostile fire
09-Sep	Pyc, Artur	Private 1st	28	18 Air Assault	IED
04-Sep	Poręba, Marcin	Platoon ldr	32	Not Yet Reported	IED
10-Aug	Ambrozinski, Daniel	Captain	32	1st Air Assault Cavalry	Hostile fire
10-Feb	Rozmiarek, Andrzej	WO	35	12th Mechanized Brigade	Accident
2008
20-Aug	Brodzikowski, Pawel	Private 1st	25	2nd Mazovians Engineers	Hostile fire
20-Aug	Sujdak, Waldemar	Sr Corporal	28	2nd Mazovians Engineers	IED
20-Aug	Szwed, Pawel	Private 1st	27	2nd Mazovians Engineers	IED
20-Jun	Marczewski, Robert	Lieutenant	28	Assault Battalion	Suicide bomb
08-Apr	Politowski, Grzegorz	Private 1st	26	5th Engineering Regt.	IED
26-Feb	Kowalewski, Hubert	Private 1st	26	10th Armoured Cavalry	IED
26-Feb	Slowik, Szymon	Corporal Snr	33	16th Air Assault Batt.	IED
2007
14-Aug	Kurowski, Lukasz	Lieutenant	28	Not reported	Hostile fire

Polish Army soldier, Private Dariusz Tyleda

Private Dariusz Tyleda

Polish Army soldier, Private Dariusz Tyleda, was killed on 6th August 2010 from the blast of an imporovised explosive device (IED).

Pvt. Tyleda, aged 31, served with the Goldap Ant-aircraft Battalion. Whilst on patrol with his unit in Ghazni province, a bomb was detonated by insurgents and then the unit came under enemy fire.

Five other soldiers were wounded in the attack.

Pvt. Tyleda leaves a wife and child.

Polish soldier, Michał Kołek

On 19th December 2009, Private 2nd Class Michał Kołek serving as part of the Quick Reaction Forces,  died in an insurgent attack on a Polish patrol around 1 pm local time (9.30 CET).

The incident occurred about 3,5 km away from the Four Courners base when the patrol was attacked by Taliban insurgents with machine gun fire and RPG grenade launchers. Immediately, Close Air Support and Quick Reaction Forces were directed to the site. After several minutes, a joint American-Afghani patrol provided support to Polish troops. In the exchange of fire PSC Michał Kołek was hit and died.

Two “Rosomak” vehicles were destroyed and six insurgents were killed in the battle.

Aged 22, Private 2nd Class Michał Kołek was a  bachelor. In Poland, he served with the Polish-Ukrainian Battalion in Przemysl. It was his first mission abroad.

He was buried on 24th December on a Christmas Eve, in his hometown Stalowa Wola. 

Polish soldier, Andrzej Rozmiarek

WO Andrzej Rozmiarek

Chief WO Andrzej Rozmiarek died on 10th February 2009 in a road accident when the vehicle he was travelling in back to the camp in Ghazni was struck by a bus travelling at high speed. 

Chief WO Andrzej Rozmiarek died in an accident, four other soldiers were wounded. They were transported to the camp in Ghazni and later to the hospital in Bagram.  

Aged 35, he served with the Polish 12th Mechanized Brigade.