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Swedish soldier killed in Afghanistan, two others injured

Other News Materials 17 October 2010 08:20 (UTC +04:00)
A Swedish soldier was killed in Afghanistan on Saturday when an armored modular vehicle (AMV) was hit by a homemade explosive west of Mazar-i-Sharif in northern Afghanistan, Xinhua reported according to Swedish media.
Swedish soldier killed in Afghanistan, two others injured

A Swedish soldier was killed in Afghanistan on Saturday when an armored modular vehicle (AMV) was hit by a homemade explosive west of Mazar-i-Sharif in northern Afghanistan, Xinhua reported according to Swedish media.

Another two soldiers were slightly injured in the same attack.

It was reported that the dead soldier came from the Stockholm area. An ambulance helicopter was called to the location, but by the time the soldier arrived at the Marmal military hospital doctors declared that the Sweden had died, an Armed Forces statement said.

The attack was reported to have occurred at around 4pm Swedish time, beginning when a combat vehicle 90 (CV90) came under fire. The AMV was called forward, but was then hit by the homemade explosives.

Swedish Defense Minister Sten Tolgfors said in his blog that " it was a big loss for Sweden".

"I was very sad to know that today Sweden has lost a soldier in an improvised explosive device(IED) attack in Afghanistan. What has happened is a big loss for Sweden," Tolgfors wrote.

Earlier on Saturday, Tolgfors published an article in the Swedish Daily Svenska Dagbladet calling for people to support the mission in Afghanistan.

Opinion polls earlier showed about 40 percent of the people in Sweden are opposed to Swedish mission in Afghanistan. Many soldiers recently refused to go to the conflict-stricken Afghanistan.

Sweden currently has about 500 soldiers deployed in Afghanistan, as part of the International Security Assistance Force.

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