Pole wounded in Afghanistan explosion

An officer from Poland's Government Protection Bureau (BOR) has been wounded in an explosion near Bagram, eastern Afghanistan. 



The incident occurred at about 7 am Polish time, as a column of BOR officers headed from Kabul to Bagram.

“Due to the explosion of an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) that had been planted 25 kilometres from our destination, one BOR officer was wounded in the arm,” confirmed BOR press spokesman Dariusz Aleksandrowicz.

Aleksandrowicz said that the officer has been taken to hospital in Bagram and that his condition is stable.

The incident comes two days after two suicide-bombers killed sixteen people, including two policemen, in attacks in the Helmond province.

Poland's forces in Afghanistan are scheduled to cease all combat operations by the close of 2014, in line with NATO's pull-out plans.

Some 25,000 Polish military personnel have served in Afghanistan since Poland joined the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in 2002.

Polish troops serve on rotation, and there are currently about 1600 soldiers in Afghanistan.

Forty-three Polish military personnel have died in the war.

(nh)