AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE,
SYDNEY: The Australian military suffered its first fatality in Iraq when a soldier accidentally shot himself while cleaning his weapon, Defence Minister Brendan Nelson said Saturday.
Nelson said the soldier, part of an Australian deployment providing security to embassy officials in Baghdad, was carrying out routine duties when the accident occurred on Friday.
“The soldier was simply handling his weapon and maintaining his weapon as soldiers are required to do, and for some unexplained reason the firearm discharged and the bullet unfortunately entered the soldier's head,” he told reporters.
“Several hours after the injury, despite receiving the best of medical care, he unfortunately passed away.”
The man, who was not named, is the first Australian Defence Force (ADF) soldier to die since the Washington ally joined the US-led Iraq campaign three years ago.
Australia's initial force of more than 2,000 during the 2003 invasion has been scaled back to about 950, half of them in the southern Al Muthanna province.
The dead soldier was with the Sydney-based 3rd Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment and had been in Iraq since March as part of a 110-strong deployment providing support for embassy staff in Baghdad.
The accident occurred in the ADF barracks inside Baghdad's secure Green Zone.
Australian army chief general Peter Leahy said it was a tragic loss of a popular soldier who was married with two small children.
“His death reminds us all of the dangers that our servicemen and women face in service of the nation. The entire army is saddened by his death,” Leahy told reporters.
While it is the first death of an ADF soldier in Iraq, an Australian citizen serving with Britain's Royal Air Force (RAF), Paul Pardoel, was killed in January last year when insurgent shot down the Hercules he was travelling in.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said he was saddened by the death, while opposition leader Kim Beazley said it would be at the forefront of the nation's thoughts during Anzac Day services next Tuesday, when Australia remembers its war dead.
“That this tragedy has occurred on the eve of our nation's most solemn and proud day will not be lost on any Australian,” he said.
