New Zealand


A soldier from New Zealand was killed in a road crash while on patrol in Afghanistan, Defence Force officials said Wednesday.

He is the second trooper to die while on assignment with the country's forces there.

Private Kirifi Mila was killed and three others were injured when their Humvee ran off the road and rolled down a steep, 100-foot (30 metre) cliff while on patrol in the northeastern Bamiyan province.

Mila was standing in the vehicle's turret when the accident occurred, joint forces commander Peter Stockwell said.

The Ferosok area where the crash happened was "very dangerous," he said, and the Defence Force was "100 per cent confident" it was not caused by an insurgent attack.

Prime Minister John Key expressed his condolences to the Mila family.

"To have one of our own die in a road crash is heartbreaking news," he said.

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard expressed her country's condolences when she addressed the New Zealand Parliament on Wednesday morning — the first foreign leader accorded the privilege.

Last August, Lt. Tim O'Donnell, 28, became New Zealand's first combat death since the country sent troops to Afghanistan in 2003. O'Donnell was killed in an insurgent ambush while on patrol in Bamiyan province.

In addition to O'Donnell and Mila, four soldiers from New Zealand have died in Afghanistan while serving in other countries' forces.