TALLINN, Jul 04, BNS – Two Estonian military personnel headed for Afghanistan this week to replace the soldiers injured in an attack last month.
The two personnel will be replacing the members of ESTCOY-6 who sustained serious injuries during a foot patrol in the Now Zad settlement in Helmand province as a result of explosions staged by insurgents in June, chief military spokesman Maj. Peeter Tali said.
The injured Estonian infantrymen are being treated in England.
At the end of June a member of the Estonian logistics team went to Afghanistan to voluntarily stay with another mission, replacing Sgt. Maj. Ivar Brok who lost his life as a result of an accident on May 23.
Units of the Estonian defense forces are deployed in the composition of NATO-led international security assistance forces, ISAF, in Afghanistan since 2003. Three Estonian soldiers have been killed and 28 injured in Afghanistan during that time.
Last June assistant teamleader Sgt. Kalle Torn (24) and driver Sgt. Jako Karuks (33) were killed in a rocket attack in Helmand Province, while Sgt. Maj. Ivar Brok (30), head of the depot group with the national support element NSE-5, was killed in an accident.
The latest of the attacks injuring Estonian servicemen was carried out on Thursday when one soldier of ESTCOY-6 on foot patrol in Helmand province was heavily wounded in an explosion staged by insurgents. The soldier was taken to the Camp Bastion base and put in the care of medics. His life is not in danger, military spokespeople said.
In the mission in Iraq, which Estonian troops are taking part in since June 2003, two soldiers have been killed and 18 injured.
The first Estonian casualty in Iraq was Sgt. Andres Nuiamae of ESTPLA-8, who was killed while performing his duties when an improvised explosive device exploded next to a patrol on Feb. 28, 2004.
On Oct. 25 the same year Sgt. Maj. Arre Illenzeer died in an attack targeting a truck of the ESTPLA-8 light infantry platoon, in which also a non-standard explosive device was used.
On Aug. 23, 2000 Master Sgt. Aleksander Mjazin of the Estonian military police unit ESTPATROL-2 died from heart attack while on a mission in Kosovo.
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