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U.S. Soldier Killed By Mine in Afghanistan
Navy SEAL Death Reminder of Afghan Mine Problem (AFGHANISTAN) BAGRAM AIR BASE Afghanistan, 29 Mar 02 (Reuters)--
The death of a Navy SEAL was a reminder of the dangers the heavy use of mines in Afghanistan (news - web sites) during 20 years of war pose in the country, a U.S. spokesman said Friday.
"We're looking constantly," Major Bryan Hilferty told reporters at Bagram, an air base north of Kabul the coalition forces use as a staging area for operations against Taliban and al Qaeda remnants.
"It's just a great challenge here because there are so many mines," he said, confirming that SEAL Chief Petty Officer Matthew Bourgeois, 35, from Tallahassee, Florida, had been killed by a land mine in southern Afghanistan.
Nobody is quite sure how many mines -- ranging from little Soviet-era "butterfly" mines which look like toys to big anti-tank devices —litter Afghanistan.
Everybody agrees there are millions of them and they wound people every day. They are also making life difficult for aid workers trying to help thousands of people made homeless in the northern area of Nahrin by a series of earthquakes (news - web sites) this week.
The tremors brought some mines closer to the surface and rain which poured down on the drought-stricken area Friday was washing the soil off the top of others.
It is often said that the most productive factories in Afghanistan are those run by organizations like the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) making prosthetic limbs to replace those blown off by mines.
Hilferty said Bourgeois was on a training exercise, not on an operation in the fight against remnants of the Taliban and Osama bin Laden (news -websites)'s al Qaeda network blamed for the September 11 attacks on the United States which triggered a U.S.-led war on terror.
"They were walking the vicinity of Kandahar area and unfortunately a landmine exploded," Hilferty said.
Hilferty said the area near the city was being combed by Danish and Polish engineers, sniffer dogs and mine-clearing equipment.
Copyright © 2002 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. |
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