Australian Soldier Killed in Roadside Explosion in Afghanistan

An Australian soldier was killed in a roadside explosion in Afghanistan yesterday, the military said.The soldier, a technician, died while trying to defuse an explosive device yesterday, Angus Houston, Australia’s defense force chief, said in an e-mailed statement. He’s the second Australian soldier to die in Afghanistan in a week.“They were undertaking a route clearance when the device was detected, there was an explosion and he was killed,” Houston said. “ He was an expert in countering IEDs and he lost his life trying to make the environment safer for his mates and the people of Afghanistan.”The death was Australia’s tenth in combat operations in Afghanistan. Some 40 Australian soldiers have been wounded since the conflict began in 2001.Australia is a partner of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan and has 1,000 personnel in Uruzgan province and around Kandahar Airport in the south.