The body of Slovak soldier Daniel Kavuliak, who was killed on Tuesday, July 9 during an attack at the Kandahar airfield in Afghanistan, was brought back to Slovakia on Wednesday evening.
Shortly before 20:00, the plane landed in Bratislava where the soldier’s family took over the coffin during a mourning ceremony, the TASR newswire wrote. Prime Minister Robert Fico flew to Kandahar on Wednesday, inspected the site and returned on the same day. He assured, as quoted by TASR, that even this tragic incident will not change the government’s stance on participation of Slovak soldiers in the international ISAF deployment in Afghanistan.
Two other Slovak soldiers were seriously wounded in the attack, and another four sustained light injuries. An Afghan national army soldier shot at the soldiers from a security tower during training. The shooter was apprehended after the incident and questioned.
One of the two seriously wounded Slovak soldiers suffered a shot to the head, and has been put into an induced coma and is to be transported back home. Milan Kudera, one of the other wounded Slovak soldiers, said he saw no reason to leave Afghanistan. His view was shared by other members of the Slovak mission.
Defence Minister Martin Glváč stated that the attacker was a terrorist who infiltrated the Afghan army and was probably detained by his army colleagues in cooperation with US soldiers.
The SITA newswire wrote that the Afghan terrorist will be investigated in the presence of Slovak soldiers.
(Source: TASR, SITA)
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
