3 Danish Hussars killed by land mine

Sergeant Jacob Moe Jensen, konstabel Sebastian La Cour Holm and konstabel Benjamin Davie Sala Rasmussen lost their lives when they were engaged in what they have done so many times before. Namely, to escort logistikkonvojen through the desert.

All three were vital pieces in the battle group convoy section, with the walking-on courage and enthusiasm time after time ran out to ensure that there were supplies to their comrades in the camps Price and Armadillo.

All three were professional to the utmost. Go on their first deployment, they all three had taken a position on that they wanted the mission here and that they believed in the matter.

Jacob, Sebastian and Benjamin were all three victims of the enemy's cowardly way to hit us on. One way in which the three are known for.


That day they took away with the largest logistics column, which we had seen on hold 6th Mood was high, this day, although the weather was gray and dull. 
We beckoned goodbye to them as they drove through the gate, and stood with bowed head as they drove in again.


Jacob, Benjamin and Sebastian knew all three, what it was, they went in for. They knew they could come to pay the ultimate price. Yet they took the place without blinking for the task which they were trained to do.

So do we, who sit back. We are not intimidated. We are running out through the gate today, tomorrow, next month. We will not allow Jacob, Sebastian and Benjamins death be in vain.

Have honored their memory

Dutch soldier killed by roadside bomb

Sergeant Mark Weijdt

A DUTCH soldier serving in Afghanistan was killed on 19th December 2008 by a roadside bomb during a fire-fight with the Taliban.

The country's armed forces chief, General Peter van Uhm, said Sergeant Mark Weijdt, 24, died after stepping on the explosive device in the Baluchi Valley, north-east of the joint Dutch-Australia base at Tarin Kowt in the southern province of Oruzgan. Another soldier was slightly wounded.

Two Danish Dragoons killed by IED

above: Jacob Gronnegaard Gade

Dan Gyde

The Danish Army Operational Command announced Friday afternoon the names of two soldiers who were killed Thursday morning in Afghanistan when their patrol was engaged in a fight.

22-year-old Konstabel Jacob Gronnegaard Gade and 29-year-old Overkonstabel Dan Gyde were killed as a result of the blast of an improvised explosive device in Gereshk, Helmand province.

Jacob Gronnegaard Gade had been in Helmand province previously in 2007 and 2008, while Dan Gyde had been deployed to Macedonia in 1999.

Dan Gyde leaves his father, mother, three sisters, his wife and a small child.

Jacob Gronnegaard Gade was unmarried and had no children. He leaves behind his mother and sister.

Both were assigned to the Jydske Dragonregiment (Jutland Dragoon Regiment).

Australian officer killed in IED attack

Lieutenant Michael Fussell was serving with the Special Operations Task Group when he was killed in action by an Improvised Explosive Device detonation while conducting a dismounted patrol in Uruzgan province, on Thursday 27 November, 2008.

Twenty-five-year-old Lieutenant Fussell was from the Sydney-based 4th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (Commando).

Lieutenant Michael Fussell was born on 17 November, 1983 at Coffs Harbour, New South Wales.

Lieutenant Fussell enlisted in the Australian Army January 2002 and was appointed as an Officer Cadet at the Australian Defence Force Academy. He completed a Bachelor of Arts and was a keen sportsman, with a strong interest in rugby.

He attended Royal Military College, Duntroon in 2005, commissioning in December 2005 into the Royal Regiment of Australian Artillery. On graduation he was posted to ‘A’ Field Battery, 4th Field Regiment, where he fulfilled a number of junior officer roles.

During his time at ‘A’ Field Battery he qualified as a paratrooper. He also deployed to East Timor on Operation Astute in 2006 and 2007.

Lieutenant Fussell was posted to 4 RAR (Commando) in January 2008 as a Joint Offensive Support Team Commander. He was a Platoon Commander for the Advance Infantry Course at Singleton and completed the Joint Terminal Attack Controllers (JTAC) course.

Lieutenant Fussell’s military decorations include the Australian Active Service Medal with clasp International Campaign Against Terrorism (ICAT), the Afghanistan Campaign Medal, the Australian Service Medal clasp, Timor-Leste and the Australian Defence Medal. 

Michael leaves behind two loving parents, his younger brother Daniel and two younger foster sisters Nikki and Nyah. His brother Daniel is a Lieutenant with 1st Field Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery (RAA) in Brisbane.

French adjutant, Nicolas Rey, killed by IED

The body of Warrant Officer Nicolas Rey, killed 22nd November 2008 from the blast of an improvised explosive device (IED), has returned home to France.

Nicolas Rey

The funeral procession passed through the city of Ardennais escorted by 30 bikers and the national Gendarmerie. Proceedings then took place inside the chapel near Dumerboin.

Two Spanish soldiers killed in suicide bomb attack

Brigadier Juan Andrés Suárez

Corporal Rubén Alonso Ríos

9th November: Two Spanish soldiers have been killed and four more injured in a suicide attack in Shindand, Afghanistan, to the south of Herat, considered to be one of the most dangerous areas of the country.

The dead men have been named as 30 year old Corporal Rubén Alonso Ríos from Vigo, and 41 year old Brigadier Juan Andrés Suárez from Mieres, Asturias. Their vehicle, which was the last one of six armoured vehicles in a convoy protecting 12 Afghan lorries, was attacked by a van packed with explosives as they formed part of Afghan National Army convoy. The two men died instantly.

Norwegian Private, Kristopher Sorli Jørgensen

Kristopher Sorli Jørgensen

Norwegian Private, Kristopher Sorli Jørgensen, aged 22, and serving with the Norwegian Home Guard was killed by a roadside bomb whilst on patrol 8th November 2008

The incident happened about 8km from Meymaneh.

Pvt. Jørgensen was attached to the Norwegian Command in Meymaneh.

German Paratrooper, Roman Schmidt

Roman Schmidt

Stabsgefreiter (Staff Corporal) Roman Schmidt was 22 years old when he was  killed during a suicide bomb blast on 20th October 2008. At the time, he and a colleague were searching for a hidden weapons cache in Kunar province, Afghanistan.

He joined the German Army on New Years Day 2005 and was assigned to the 2nd Company, 263rd Paratrooper Battalion.

He had previously in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

German Paratrooper, Patrick Behlke

Patrick Behlke

Stabsunteroffizier (Staff Sergeant) Patrick Behlke was one of two German Paratroopers killed, 20th October 2008, during a suicide bomb blast as they searched for a hidden weapons cache in Kunar province, Afghanistan.

The 25 year old belonged to the 2nd Company, 263rd Paratrooper Battalion. He joined the German Army on New Years Day 2004 and was assigned to the unit after initial training. He had been in Afghanistan since September 2008.

This was his second overseas deployment. He previously served with EUFOR in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Aid worker shot dead in Kabul

Gayle Williams

Gayle Williams was an aid worker for SERVE Afghanistan of joint British and South African nationality. She was shot dead on her way to work in Kabul by two men on a motorbike on 20th October 2008.

Zabiullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Taliban, claimed responsibility for her death and said she had been killed "because she was working for an organization which was preaching Christianity in Afghanistan."

Italian Army Corporal Alessandro Caroppo

Cpl. Caroppo

Italian Army Corporal Alessandro Caroppo, aged 23, died on 21st September 2008 at the Italian Base Camp in Herat.

When he failed to report for guard duty, colleagues went to his sleeping quarters to find him having difficulty breathing. He was rushed to medical facilities where he died soon after.

A native of San Pietro Vernotico, Alessandro had been part of convoy operations that had been attacked repeatedly over recent days.

The young soldier had already completed an operational tour in Lebanon and was due to end his current mission on 5th October.

Dutch Pfc. Jos ten Brinke

A Dutch soldier serving with NATO-led forces in southern Afghanistan was killed on 7th September 2008 by a roadside bomb, the Dutch Defense Ministry announced.

The 21-year-old soldier, Jos ten Brinke, was killed about 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) north of the town of Tarin Kowt, the ministry said in a statement.

Five others soldiers were wounded in the attack, one of them seriously, the ministry said.

Japanese aid worker shot dead in Nangarhar

The bullet-riddled body of an abducted Japanese aid worker was recovered Wednesday, the latest grim symbol of insurgents' apparent determination to drive foreign humanitarian groups from Afghanistan. Afghan and Japanese authorities identified the slain man as Kazuya Ito, an engineer who was seized by gunmen a day earlier in Nangarhar province, east of Kabul.

 The Japanese engineer worked for an aid organization called Peshawar-kai, meaning the Peshawar group, based in Fukuoka, Japan. It is named for a Pakistani city just across the border that is home to hundreds of thousands of Afghan refugees.

Ito, 31, was working on agricultural development projects in a remote eastern area of Afghanistan, Japanese diplomats and colleagues said. Authorities said gunmen stopped his car Tuesday near the city of Jalalabad, which lies on the main road connecting Kabul, the Afghan capital, and the border with Pakistan. Ito's Afghan driver was released unharmed.

German paratrooper, Mischa Meier

Mischa Meier

German Army Sergeant-Major, Mischa Meier, aged 29, was killed on 27th August 2008 when the vehicle he was in drove over an improvised explosive device (IED) in Kunduz, Afghanistan.

Sgt-Major Meier, who served with the 263rd Paratroop Battalion, was commander of a patrol when the incident happened.

He only had four weeks left to serve in Afghanistan.

German soldier, Christian Cemnitz

Master Sergeant Christian Cemnitz, serving with the German Army in Afghanistan, died in hospital in Termez, Uzbekistan on 25th August 2008.

The only information we have been able to gather is that he was airlifted from Afghanistan and was being flown to Germany, via Uzbekistan, when he died.

We have no information as to whether he was injured in action or whether he was being repatriated due to an illness.

If anyone has any information about this incident, we would be pleased to hear from you.