One Dead, One Injured Among Romanian Troops In Afghanistan – Defense Min

One Romanian soldier was killed and another was injured Tuesday in Afghanistan, Romania’s Defense Ministry said in a statement.

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The Defense Ministry said sergeant major Florin Badiceanu was killed following an incident Tuesday in Afghanistan and private first class Marian Zamfir was injured.

The Romanian troops were on a patrol mission on the A1 highway linking Kandahar to Kabul and their vehicle ran over an improvised explosive device. Following the blast, the five troops in the vehicle were immediately evacuated by helicopter and taken to the hospital in Lagman, according to regular procedure, the ministry said.

Despite doctors' best efforts, sergeant major Florin Badiceanu, 31, died. He was married and had one child.

Private first class Marian Zamfir, who was injured, is receiving medical treatment, the ministry also said.

Five Romanian troops were injured in the explosion of an improvised explosive device over which they had driven their armored vehicle in southern Afghanistan, AFP reported Tuesday citing NATO and the local governor.

A NATO spokesman told AFP a patrol mission has been hit by an improvised bomb in a district of Zabul province, in southern Afghanistan. He said five troops were injured but didn't say what nationality they were. He also said no one was killed.

The spokesman of the Zabul governor, Mohammad Khan Rasoulyar, told AFP the injured troops are Romanian. The patrol vehicle was hit near Qalat, the capital of Zabul province, he said.

Romania currently has 1,020 troops in Afghanistan, of which 982 under the NATO-led Internationals Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and 38 under the Unitewd States' Enduring Freedom operation.

Romania's highest defense body decided end-January the country will deploy 600 additional troops to Afghanistan. In June 2009, Romania said it would deploy 100 more troops in 2010, which brings the total number of Romanian troops deployed in Afghanistan to 1,800.

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