Three Polish soldiers killed in Afghanistan
Three Polish soldiers were killed and one injured in a mine explosion in Afghanistan on Wednesday, 20 kilometers south-east of Ghazni province, making this the bloodiest day for the Polish military.
The soldiers were in a hummer patrolling the region, when their vehicle drove over a mine. Among the dead were Corporal Waldemar Sujdak, Private Paweł Szwed and Private Paweł Brodzikowski, 28, 27 and 25 years old, respectively. The wounded soldier was transported by helicopter to another base at Bagram. Since the beginning of the Polish mission in Afghanistan, eight Polish soldiers have been killed.
The Polish patrol was composed of a number of vehicles headed on Wednesday afternoon from their base in Ghazni to the Sharan district in the Paktika province when one of the hummers drove over an explosive.
"I spoke to the soldiers who were part of the patrol. They said that the crater in the ground, which resulted after the blast, was huge," said Major Jacek Popławski, spokesperson for the Polish Military Contingent in Afghanistan.
From the four person team, only one was injured. He 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. He calls his state critical, but stable," said Popławski.
His state on Thursday was pronounced as better, after he underwent surgery.
About 1,600 Polish troops are part of 53,000 NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) forces from 40 countries that have been deployed to Afghanistan following the ouster of the Taliban regime in late 2001.
