Polish soldier dies, 5 wounded in Afghanistan

PolandWarsaw  - One Polish soldier died and five others were wounded Friday after a bomb exploded near a Polish convoy in eastern Afghanistan, local media reported.

This was the 11th Polish soldier to die in the NATO mission, and the first to die in a KTO Rosomak (Wolverine) armored vehicle.

"It's a very primitive weapon, but unfortunately very deadly," Dariusz Kacperczyk, Operational Headquarters spokesman, told TVN 24 about the planted bomb that went off while the Polish soldiers were on patrol.

The bomb exploded about three kilometers from the military base in Giro, in the eastern province of Ghazni.

Poland's mission to Afghanistan of 1,600 troops was boosted in April when President Lech Kaczynski approved an additional 400 soldiers to Afghanistan, despite military budget cuts.

The commander of Poland's land forces, General Waldemar Skrzypczak, resigned last month after charging that ministry officials blocked the delivery of modern weapons to Polish soldiers in Afghanistan.  dpa