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Afghan mission comes under fire

ČR diplomat convoy weathers attack, but mudslide kills soldier

By Kimberly Ashton
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
May 9th, 2007 issue

By Kimberly Ashton

Staff Writer
Czech forces in Afghanistan have encountered lethal mission conditions this month, with a diplomat coming under fire and two days later an officer dying in a mudslide.
In the first incident, May 1, the leader of the Czech diplomatic mission, Filip Velach, was attacked by insurgents about 100 kilometers (62 miles) south of Kabul. Velach, who was in an armored car, was not injured but his two bodyguards suffered slight injuries.
The bodyguards shot and killed three of the attackers, according to the Czech News Agency, and U.S. and Afghan forces also traded fire with the gunmen.
The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse reported that up to five Afghan soldiers and seven gunmen died in the ensuing battle.
A U.S. convoy transported the Czechs to a safer place, and Velach returned to the Czech Embassy in Kabul, which opened in mid-April, the following day.
Zuzana Opletalová, spokeswoman for the Foreign Affairs Ministry, said May 7 that embassy officials have stopped all trips out of Kabul while it “analyzes the situation” and waits for a replacement for the damaged vehicle. But to permanently ban all trips outside the capital is not an option, and there are no plans to close the embassy, she said.
Paktia province Governor Rahmatullah Rahmat told the International Herald Tribune May 1 that Velach had been “stupid” to visit the region with just two bodyguards.
Two days after Velach was attacked, a vehicle carrying two Czech soldiers 30 kilometers southeast of Faizabad, northern Afghanistan, was hit by a mudslide and dragged down a slope. Rescuers managed to dig out one of the soldiers but the other one, who Defense Ministry spokesman Andrej Čírtek only identified as a 28-year-old man, died before the others could get to him. His remains were returned to the Czech Republic May 6.
The other soldier underwent an operation at a field base and is now in stable condition in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan, Čírtek said.
The troops — part of a four-vehicle, 18-person convoy — were returning from patrolling the area around a provincial reconstruction team when they got caught in the landslide, caused by heavy rains, Čírtek said.
Eighty Czechs are in a protection unit guarding the team, he said. About 300 Czech soldiers are currently deployed in Afghanistan.

Kimberly Ashton can be reached at kashton@praguepost.com


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