Soldier dies from injuries suffered in Afghanistan suicide attack

The paratrooper from the Bundeswehr’s Luftlandebrigade 26 was seriously wounded in the August 6, 2008 attack by the Taliban, which killed three other soldiers immediately.

The soldiers had been attempting to free a stuck military vehicle while on patrol in the northern part of the country, when a suicide bomber on a motorcycle broke through a security perimeter before blowing himself up. The paratrooper suffered severe burns, broken bones and damage to the lungs from the attack.

Though the soldier’s condition improved initially, his health eventually began to deteriorate over the past year. He is the 36th German soldier to die after serving in Afghanistan.

The Bundeswehr troops stationed in and around the Afghan city of Kunduz have come under increasing attack over the past year, as the Islamist insurgents attempt to destabilise the relatively more peaceful north of the country.

Germany currently has 4,200 troops stationed in Afghanistan as part of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force in the country, but there has been recent speculation that Berlin could boost that to 7,000 in the coming months.