And then there were eight

Three Polish soldiers were killed and one injured in a mine explosion in Afghanistan last Wednesday, making it the bloodiest day so far for the Polish contingent in the country. The four soldiers were riding in a Humvee, around 20 km southeast of the Polish base in Ghazni province, when their vehicle drove over an improvised explosive device.

Those killed were Corporal Waldemar Sujdak, Private 1st Class Paweł Szwed and Private 1st Class Paweł Brodzikowski, aged 28, 27 and 25, respectively. Another wounded soldier was transported by helicopter to a base at Bagram. Since the beginning of the Polish mission in Afghanistan, eight Polish soldiers have been killed.

"I spoke to the soldiers who were part of the patrol. They said that the crater formed by the blast was huge," Major Jacek Popławski, spokesperson for the Polish Military Contingent in Afghanistan, told Gazeta Wyborcza.

The survivor of the attack was transferred to a hospital in Bagram and underwent surgery. "I saw him in the hospital. The doctor said he was very lucky to be alive. His state was critical, but stable," said Popławski. The soldier's condition was later upgraded after he underwent surgery.

Meanwhile, Afghan commandos and US-led coalition forces killed more than 30 Taliban insurgents on Wednesday in the eastern province of Laghman, the US military said in a statement, adding that no civilians had been among the casualties. The operation was conducted after combined forces learned that militants had gathered in the area following a recent attack on NATO forces.

Around 1,600 Polish troops are part of the 53,000-strong, NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan. The ISAF, with soldiers from 40 countries, was deployed following the ousting of the Taliban regime in late 2001. The Polish contingent will be strengthened by an additional 400 troops in the future.

            Anna Olejarczyk