Amsterdam  - Dutch Defence Minister Eimert van Middelkoop on Tuesday confirmed the death of a Dutch soldier in the southern Afghan province of Uruzghan.

Azdin Chadli, 20, died around 6 pm local time (1300 GMT) Monday when two 107-milimetre missiles hit Camp Holland, the Dutch military base. Five other Dutch soldiers between the ages of 19 to 24 sustained injuries, but were reportedly "stable."

Two Afghan soldiers also sustained injuries.

It is the first time a missile has hit Camp Holland.

Kunduz, Afghanistan  - A German military base in Afghanistan came under rocket fire shortly after a visit by German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday.

Two missiles were fired at the facility in the northern city of Kunduz, just 20 minutes after the chancellor left, a government spokesman said in Berlin.

The missiles landed outside the perimeter fence and caused no casualties or damage.

Wellington  - New Zealand Prime Minister John Key said Monday that he was sending a letter to Afghan President Hamid Karzai protesting a law Karzai signed that decrees a wife is obliged to fulfil the sexual desires of her husband.

But he said at his weekly news conference that the law he earlier described as "abhorrent" would not colour his government's decision on whether to expand New Zealand's military commitment to Afghanistan

because they were different issues.

Kunduz, Germany  - German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrived Monday on a surprise visit to Afghanistan, her second to the country, to visit German soldiers.

Merkel, accompanied by Defence Minister Franz-Josef Jung, landed at a military base in the northern Afghan city of Kunduz, where 700 German troops are stationed.

A number of attacks occurred near the base shortly before Merkel's visit. Shots were fired at German soldiers overnight as they were guarding a bridge construction project 7 kilometres from the camp. None was hurt.

Rome  - Hundreds of Afghan children who make up the majority of unaccompanied minors living on the streets of Rome mostly arrive in Italy following hazardous journeys through Greece and Turkey and the countries of the former Yugoslavia, Italian news reports said Sunday.

The discovery this week by police of 24 Afghans - aged between 10 and 15 - living in makeshift underground shelters at Rome's Ostiense railway station, has cast the spotlight on the plight of immigrant street-children in the Italian capital.

Kabul  - The top US envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan arrived in Kabul to hold talks with Afghan and NATO military officials, a US embassy spokesperson said Sunday.

Ambassador Richard Holbrooke was accompanied by the US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen. Both officials were vital in drafting a strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan that US President Barack Obama announced late last month.