

Soldiers of NATO’s Resolute Support Mission train Afghan soldiers during military exercises in Sohrab camp in Helmand province, Afghanistan. Photo: EPA-EFE/WATAN YAR.

One Croatian soldier has died and two others have been injured after a suicide bomber slammed his motorcycle into a vehicle they were travelling in near a NATO military base on the outskirts of Kabul in Afghanistan, the Croatian Defence Ministry said on Wednesday.

The killed soldier, born in 1992, was a member of the Special Forces and was engaged in the Middle East in advising and mentoring Afghan security forces.

“I received this sad news with pain and weight in my heart. This moment deeply affects every member of the Croatian Armyy family and the Croatian people,” Defence Minister Damir Krsticevic said, confirming the fatality.

Commenting earlier on the nature of the attack, Krsticevic stated: “It was an isolated attack and all the other members of the Croatian contingent are safe. Our officers are with the families of the injured soldiers to support them.”

The three members of the Croatian armed forces belonged to a contingent of around 100 soldiers serving in the NATO-led Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan.

The mission was launched on January 1, 2015, to “provide further training, advice and assistance for the Afghan security forces and institutions”. Over 16,000 personnel from 39 NATO member states and partner countries are deployed in the mission.

Some 31 of the soldiers in the contingent are from Montenegro, while six are from North Macedonia and two each from Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“The Croatian army will continue to fight hard for peace and stability in the world … [but] every operation carries its own risk,” Krsticevic said at a press conference.