Suicide blast kills seven Georgian soldiers in Afghanistan
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — An insurgent attack in southern Afghanistan killed seven Georgian soldiers late Thursday, as the Afghan Taliban continues to ramp up assaults in the midst of its spring offensive against U.S.-led coalition troops.
The Georgian Defense Ministry said the soldiers were killed in a suicide bomb attack in Helmand, a southern province that has long been a Taliban stronghold. The troops had been deployed in Afghanistan since April, the ministry said in a statement. Nine Georgian soldiers were injured in the attack, but their injuries were not life-threatening.
Georgia, a former Soviet republic in the Caucasus Mountains region, is a strong ally of the U.S. and has more than 1,500 soldiers serving in Afghanistan, with most of them deployed in Helmand. The country, which for years has expressed a desire to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, has the largest deployment of soldiers in Afghanistan from a non-NATO nation.
The country’s Defense Ministry called the soldiers’ deaths “an irreparable loss not only for their families but for the whole of Georgia.”
The bombing came a month after a suicide attack killed three Georgian soldiers and injured several at their base in Helmand province.
[For the Record, 10:22 p.m. June 6: A previous version of this post said in the headline that six Georgians had died. The correct number is seven.]
ALSO:
Syria loyalists in Damascus cheered by Qusair victory
Britain’s Prince Philip in hospital for ‘exploratory’ surgery
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
