SAS mine victim will be evacuated to German hospital

By JOHN ARMSTRONG, FRANCESCA MOLD and SCOTT MacLEOD

A New Zealand SAS soldier whose left foot was amputated following a land-mine explosion in Afghanistan will recuperate in a German military hospital before being flown back to New Zealand.

Three New Zealand soldiers serving with the American-led multinational force were injured when their vehicle ran over the landmine during what is being described as a routine patrol with other unspecified military personnel around 7.30pm on Tuesday (NZ time).

The incident is the most serious involving Defence Force personnel on operational duty in a combat zone since Private Leonard Manning was killed by East Timorese militia in July 2000.

Two of the soldiers suffered concussion and shrapnel injuries. One also has significant damage to his ear. The third soldier suffered severe injuries to his left foot.

The men were treated at the scene by a quick-response medical team and were evacuated to a military hospital nearby. American surgeons tried unsuccessfully for several hours to save the soldier's foot.

His condition is being stabilised before he is airlifted to a hospital in Germany for further treatment and then repatriated to New Zealand.

The other two soldiers were well enough to walk and are likely to remain in Afghanistan.

It is the second time New Zealand soldiers have been injured in Afghanistan. In August, US helicopters flew two SAS soldiers to a military hospital after their vehicle rolled down a bank.

At a press conference yesterday, Chief of Defence Force Air Marshal Bruce Ferguson and Defence Minister Mark Burton gave few details of the latest incident, saying they wanted to protect the operational safety of New Zealand soldiers in the war zone. They would not reveal where it happened, what the soldiers were doing, what kind of vehicle they were in, their names, ages or rank.

Air Marshal Ferguson would not say who was thought to have planted the landmine. But he pointed out there were thousands of landmines in the region dating back to the Russian invasion of Afghanistan in the 1980s. Afghanistan is one of the world's most dangerous nations for landmines.

A former convenor of the New Zealand Campaign Against Landmines, Neil Mander, said mines were laid during years of fighting between Afghans. The Russians laid millions more during their occupation.

He said the SAS vehicle probably hit an anti-personnel mine, which typically explodes with the force of 250g of TNT. An anti-tank mine was ten times as powerful, and could rip a truck to shreds.

Mr Mander said few areas of Afghanistan were safe from mines, which were "utterly indiscriminate" in the way they killed.

A United Nations report said one million mines were cleared from Afghanistan three years ago. Since then, mines and unexploded cluster bombs dropped during the war on terrorism had increased the danger.

It was initially Government policy not to reveal whether New Zealand special forces soldiers were serving in Afghanistan, but Prime Minister Helen Clark confirmed their presence after it was revealed by a White House website.

In March, the Prime Minister said a "significant proportion" of the country's SAS troops were serving in Afghanistan at any one time. It is thought she was talking of between 40 and 80 soldiers.

Last month two American websites reported that, as part of Operation Enduring Freedom, New Zealand SAS troops have been raiding southern Afghanistan locations where al Qaeda or senior Taleban personnel are thought to be hiding. They said the SAS troops were attached to an American special forces Seal unit called Task Force K-Bar.

Mr Burton yesterday agreed the Government had taken a precautionary approach on releasing information about special forces.

"But in this situation where we have injuries, it's our judgment that it is important people know this has happened. This is in the public interest to know."

The Army has notified the soldiers' next-of-kin.

The Defence Force will conduct an inquiry, but Mr Burton said few, if any, details would be made public.

Air Marshal Ferguson said he was protecting the operational safety of his soldiers.

"The safety and integrity of my people is absolute and that takes total precedence over the interests of other people and what you may say is the right to know."

Mr Burton said that by the time journalists left the midday press conference, anything said would potentially be available to hostile forces on the other side of the world.

"We have to be mindful of that. We have to be mindful that if the last 13 months have taught us anything, [it is that] there are connections that can be made."

But Greens foreign affairs spokesman Keith Locke said it was a sad irony that it took a tragedy like this to get any information at all about what New Zealand troops were doing in Afghanistan.

US ambassador Charles Swindells said the thoughts of his country were with the families of those hurt. "The US would once again like to express our appreciation for the New Zealand contribution to the fight against terrorism," he said.

Australia has 150 crack troops in Afghanistan. An Australian defence spokeswoman, Claire Bannon, said the New Zealanders were not operating with Australians when they were injured.

The Herald spoke to two US defence officials at the Pentagon who said they had no information on the incident.

Defence staff in Britain and Canada could not be reached because of their time zones.