10.11.08 - 09:27 -
Warrant Officer Juan Andrés Suárez García (L) and Cpl. Ruben Alonso Rios (R). / EFE
Two Spanish soldiers were killed, while four other soldiers and a civilian were wounded, on Sunday in a suicide attack in the western Afghan province of Herat, the Spanish Defense Ministry said.
Cpl. Ruben Alonso Rios and Warrant Officer Juan Andrés Suárez García, both members of the BRILAT air mobile light brigade, were killed in the attack, Defense Minister Carme Chacón said in a statement.
Cpl. Antonio Cures García was seriously wounded in the suicide attack, while Capt. Enrique Dopico Rodriguez, Sgt. Gonzalo Miguelez Dieguez and Cpl. Alberto Cao Pérez suffered minor wounds.
The soldiers died when a van packed with explosives was driven into an International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF, convoy, an Afghan official told Efe.
The attack occurred in Shindand, a district in southern Herat, the police spokesman for western Afghanistan, Abdul Raouf Ahmadi, said.
The joint Afghan-ISAF convoy was in the Aziz Abad area when the attack occurred, the police spokesman said, adding that one of the military vehicles was completely destroyed by the blast.
Taliban insurgents claimed responsibility immediately on their Web page for the suicide attack, stating that the target was a U.S. convoy.
The group said the attacker, identified only as "Mullah Habibullah," was a resident of the province who managed to kill "several" U.S. troops.
Both ISAF and U.S. troops operate in Shindand, one of the most violent areas in Herat.
Spain has nearly 800 troops in Afghanistan, chiefly deployed at the forward support base in Herat, where there are 500 troops, and at the unit in Qala-i-Naw.
The Spanish soldiers are part of the 35,500-strong, NATO-led ISAF that is providing support in the strife-torn Asian country.
On Aug. 22, a U.S. air strike killed 90 civilians, including 60 children, in Aziz Abad.
A total of 87 Spanish troops have been killed in Afghanistan since Madrid deployed military forces in the Asian country in January 2002.
