Riga  - The presidents of Estonia, Latvia, and Poland expressed condolences on Thursday to the Baltic nation of Lithuania over the death of a Lithuanian soldier in Afghanistan.

"Our hearts will go out to Lithuania," said Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves. "We know what it means for our country."

The 35-year-old Arunas Jarmalavicius became the first Lithuanian soldier to die in the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan, the Baltic nation's defence ministry said on Thursday.

The soldier was killed in western Afghanistan when people took to the streets to protest a US soldier in Iraq using the Koran for target practice.

"Freedom does not come from declarations, it comes at a cost," Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus told a press conference in the Latvian capital, Riga, after a meeting with Polish President Lech Kaczynski, Latvian President Valdis Zatlers, and Ilves.

More than 1,000 protesters tried to storm a NATO-led Lithuanian military base in Chaghcharan, the capital of Ghor province, on Thursday afternoon, chanting anti-US and anti-West slogans.

"Soldier Arunas Jarmalavicius from the Alytus Birute Battalion died while defending the ideals of liberty and peaceful coexistence, so dear and understandable to all of us, in far-away Afghanistan which needs the experience and support of Lithuanian servicemen and civilians," Adamkus said in a released statement.

More than 130 Lithuanians are serving in the Ghor province. The Baltic nation of Estonia lost two soldiers in Afghanistan.

The United States, which led the invasion that toppled the Taliban regime in 2001, has several thousand troops in Afghanistan helping to fight an Islamist insurgency led by Taliban loyalists.

Troops from about 40 countries are involved in counterinsurgency and reconstruction work in Afghanistan.

The latest death took to 59 the number of UN and NATO soldiers to be killed in Afghanistan this year. (dpa)