Danish soldier killed in Afghanistan

A Danish soldier has been killed and four others injured in a bomb attack in Afghanistan’s southern province of Helmand.

“It is with great sorrow that I have received word that one of our soldiers has been killed in Afghanistan and that four other soldiers have been slightly wounded,” the chief of the Danish Army Operational Command, Major General Agner Rokos, said in a statement issued on Saturday.

An improvised explosive device went off when the soldiers were patrolling on foot between Patrol Baseline and Gereshk, he added.

The injured were taken to the field hospital at Camp Bastion, but one lost his life on arrival at the medical facility, the statement explained.

Sunday’s attack raised the death toll for Danish soldiers in conflict-related incidents in Afghanistan to 36. Six other Danish troops have died in non-combat related incidents, including one who committed suicide, according to the Danish military.

There are about 750 Danish troops in Afghanistan, mostly in Helmand, under the command of British forces.

However, Denmark plans to reduce its contingent in the Central Asian country to 650 by the second half of 2012.

Some 420 foreign troops have been killed in Afghanistan in 2011.