Another digger killed in Afghanistan
A Special Air Service (SAS) soldier has become the second Australian to be killed in combat in Afghanistan in less than three weeks.
The soldier, whose name has not been released, was fatally wounded during a firefight with Taliban militants in a remote valley of Oruzgan province.
No other Australian casualties were reported, and there were no details of any Taliban killed or wounded.
Head of the Australian Defence Force, Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, said the soldier had been shot while launching a ground attack on a Taliban "sanctuary".
"We are taking the fight to the Taliban, and it was in one of these operations where we were going direct to fight the Taliban that this casualty occurred," he told reporters in Canberra.
A coalition helicopter evacuated the fallen soldier to a nearby medical facility, but he later died.
"Despite the best efforts of his comrades and the aero-medical evacuation team, the soldier succumbed to his wounds," Air Chief Marshal Houston said.
"The death of this courageous and dedicated soldier is a reminder of the danger faced by all our forces in Afghanistan."
The soldier's SAS comrades received special praise from the defence chief for trying valiantly to save their mate's life by administering first aid.
"Their courage under fire, and their determination to help a fallen mate, is to be commended," Air Chief Marshal Houston said.
It's the second death of an Australian soldier in Afghanistan this month, after Trooper David Pearce was killed by a roadside bomb, also in Oruzgan province, on October 8.
Three Australians have now been killed and 27 wounded since the Afghanistan operation began as part of the war on terrorism.
Prime Minister John Howard interrupted his election campaign in Perth, where much of the elite SAS is based, to declare the soldier "died serving the cause of liberty and freedom".
"He died on active service in a just cause and in a cause to which the Australian government and many other countries around the world remain very firmly committed," Mr Howard said.
"With the death of this soldier today, and the death of Trooper Pearce only a couple of weeks ago, it is a reminder of the terrible peril of service in the defence force.
"It's a reminder to all of us of the debt we owe to men and women of the Australian forces.
"I feel for this man's family. I send them my personal thoughts, love and sympathy, my prayers at a very sad and difficult time for them."
Australia Defence Association spokesman Neil James said it would be wrong to politicise the soldier's death during an election campaign.
"It's really not a political incident. It wouldn't matter who was the government of this country, we'd still be fighting in Afghanistan," he said.
Mr James did not think the man's death would affect morale, although he acknowledged Afghanistan was now more dangerous than in the past.
"Whenever a closely knit team loses someone, it's always hard for them," he said.
"But these blokes are professionals, they've got a job to do and they have to concentrate on the job at hand. It's not as if they're going to sit round the tent sobbing."
Australia has almost 1,000 troops in Afghanistan as part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force.
Last month, three Australians were wounded in a firefight with Taliban forces near Tarin Kowt.
In August, two Australian troops were injured in a shootout with enemy militants, and in June, an Australian survived a car bomb attack that killed a Dutch soldier and six civilians.
SAS Sergeant Andrew Russell, a member of Australia's first deployment to Afghanistan, died in February 2002 when his vehicle hit a landmine.
Air Chief Marshal Houston said Afghanistan was a more dangerous place than it had been earlier in the operation.
"The threat has been there all the way through (but) ... over the last 12 to 18 months we have been facing a more dangerous threat," he said.
"But ... when you go in and take the fight to the Taliban, you are going to take some risks associated with that, and from time to time there will be casualties."
The soldier killed is only the third Australian to die in combat since the Vietnam War.
Defence was arranging repatriation of the body.
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