Swedish UN worker Zahra Abidi

Zahra Abidi

This report is from Ivory Coast but we have included it on this website as a tribute to Zahra Abidi

A Swedish United Nations employee was shot and killed in Abidjan by a stray bullet, on 31st March 2011.

Zahra Abidi, aged 34, was hit in her home in Abidjan, where she was working for the United Nations Operation in Cote d'Ivoire (UNOCI).

Fighting erupted in Ivory Coast's main city Abidjan on Thursday as forces loyal to internationally recognised election winner Alassane Ouattara make a final push for power against incumbent Laurent Gbagbo, who has refused to cede power.

Bloody post-election violence has plunged the world's top cocoa producer into political and economic crisis, killing nearly 500 people and forcing more than one million people to flee.

The next day, but in Afghanistan, three UN workers - Joakim Dungel from Sweden, Siri Skare from Norway and Filaret Motco from Romania, plus four Nepalese Gurkha guards died.

Sweden - full list of military fatalities since 2002

SWEDEN

This is the full list of Swedish military fatalities since 2002

Date	Name	Rank	Age	Unit	Cause
16-Oct-10	Wallin, Kenneth	Sergeant	22	Not reported	IED attack
07-Feb-10	Andersson, Gunnar	Lieutenant	31	Life Guards	Hostile fire
07-Feb-10	Palmlöv, Johan	Captain	28	Life Guards	Hostile fire
09-Dec-05	Bergqvist, Tomas	Not reported	30	Särskilda skyddsgruppen	Hostile fire
26-Nov-05	Lindblom, Jesper	Not reported	28	Särskilda skyddsgruppen	IED attack

Swedish soldier, Kenneth Wallin

Swedish soldier Kenneth Wallin was killed in combat in Afghanistan on 16 Oct 2010. The attack took place just a few kilometres from the place where two Swedish officers was shot to death in February this year. 

Sgt. Kenneth Wallin

Read full story: Stockholm News

Two Swedish army officers killed in shootout

Two Swedish officers, Captain Johan Palmlöv and Lieutenant Gunnar Andersson, both with the Swedish Royal Life Guards, and their Afghan interpreter, Mohammad Shahab Ayouby, were part of the patrol which came under fire near a police station, 40 kilometres west of Mazar-e Sharif, near the village of Gurgi Tappeh. All three were killed in the attack.

It is thought they were attacked and killed by an Afghan police officer.

Read full story at The Local (Sweden's English language News)

Swedish soldier, Tomas Bergqvist, killed in bomb blast

Tomas Bergqvist

Swedish soldier, Tomas Bergqvist, aged 30, died on 9th December 2005 from injuries sustained in a bomb blast in northern Afghanistan.

He was on a routine patrol on 25th November when a roadside bomb was detonated by insurgents. Severely injured, he was immediately transferred to hospital. Unfortunately, surgeons were unable to save him.

The Swedish parliament has endorsed a gradual increase of Swedish servicemen in the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force(ISAF) in Afghanistan from 90 members to 375 throughout the next two-years.

Swedish soldier, Jesper Lindblom, dies in bomb blast

Jesper Lindblom

28-year old Swedish soldier Jesper Lindblom was killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan on 26th November 2005. Three other Swedish soldiers were wounded by the blast, one of them is still in critical condition.

Lindblom was a Marine Ranger when he joined the secretive elite unit Särskilda skyddsgruppen (SSG) in 1999.

Sweden currently has some 100 soldiers in Afghanistan whose job is to maintain peace, such as it is, and another 100 soldiers will reinforce the unit next spring.

TV cameraman, Ulf Stromberg

Ulf Stromberg

Ulf Stromberg, 42, a cameraman for Sweden's TV4, was shot at a house in Taloqan. He was the eighth journalist killed in Afghanistan since the beginning of the U.S.-led military campaign.

"Ulf was a perfectionist but now I think of him, above all, in his role as a father," Jan Scherman, programme director at TV4, told Reuters. Stromberg was married and the father of three small children.