A missile attack on Kamp Holland, the main NATO army base in the unruly Afghan province of Uruzgan, has left one Dutch soldier dead and five others injured. The news was announced by the Commander-in-Chief of the Dutch Armed Forces, General Peter van Uhm, at a press conference in The Hague.
It is the first fatality sustained in a missile attack on the base, which is home to the majority of the approximately 1400 Dutch troops deployed in Afghanistan. General Van Uhm named the dead soldier as 20-year-old Private first class Azdin Chadli. The other five soldiers are in a stable condition. A second rocket injured two Afghan soldiers at the Dutch base.
Private Chadli is the 19th Dutch soldier to die since the start of the Dutch mission to Afghanistan in 2006.
The first attack took place at 18.00 CET. Two of the injured soldiers were taken to a hospital in Kandahar.
This video about Kamp Holland was filmed by our reporter Ashleigh Elson
just a few days before the attack
The death of Private Chadli underlines how fragile the situation is in Uruzgan, General Uhm told the press on Monday evening. He added that in his view, major progress has been achieved in improving regional security in recent years. But he also said: "Of course, it remains possible for individuals to carry out missile attacks". Adding:
"We will continue to fight those individuals and at the same time make sure that the vast majority of the people of Uruzgan can continue to benefit from the security that we, together with the Afghan authority, offer to them."
In an initial reaction to the news, Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende spoke of a "cowardly attack" and offered his condolences to Private Chadli's family and friends, whose grief, he said, was "hardly imaginable."
Speaking from Kamp Holland, reporter Peter ter Velde of Dutch public broadcaster NOS, stressed that it was the first time anyone inside the base had been killed in a missile attack. "The two rockets fell in the heart of the Dutch camp, which is why there are victims, and of course everyone expects this is a Taliban attack."
"This is a major shock, most soldiers go out in the field, they have the feeling it's dangerous there and when they come back to Kamp Holland, they have the feeling this is a secure area, there's no enemy activity at our base, so of course it's a shock."
Nonetheless, Ter Velde doesn't think the attacks will have any consequences for the Dutch troop deployment in Afghanistan:
"The Dutch have decided to leave Uruzgan in 2010, so this attack will not influence this."