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Casualties in Afghanistan - Coverage
Defence Force Press Conference
By Mark P. Williams
Today the Minister of Defence, Dr Jonathan Coleman and Chief of Defence Lieutenant General Rhys Jones gave a press conference on the incident in Bamyan over the weekend which resulted in the deaths of two New Zealand soldiers.
The Minister of Defence reiterated the government's condolences to the families of those killed and said that the families of both men should be proud of their military careers and the work they had been doing in Afghanistan. Chief of Defence Lt Gen. Rhys Jones then named the deceased as Lance Corporal Rory Patrick Malone and Lance Corporal Pralli Durrer, both aged 26.
The Chief of Defence took pains to remind everyone of the deaths of the two members of the Afghan Special Operations Police (NDS) and the eleven other personnel injured during the operation.
He went on to describe the circumstances of the incident.
The incident was the result of an attempt by the NDS to arrest and capture a bomb-maker. Insurgent forces ambushed the NDS, killing two. The NDS then called NZ Defence Force soldiers for support and in the resulting firefight New Zealand forces took their casualties, six wounded and two deaths.
Lt Gen. Rhys Jones said that the enemy were observed carrying away dead and wounded combatants but the NZDF has no way of knowing how many were killed or injured, and may never know. Further information, with maps can be seen in the accompanying video--see also the photographs for details of NZDF maps.
The NZ Defence Force press release can be read here.
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