Swedish soldier dies after Afghan attack

updated 5:10 a.m. ET Nov. 26, 2005

KABUL, Afghanistan - A Swedish soldier died from wounds suffered in a roadside bomb blast in Afghanistan, and suspected Taliban militants burned down a district police headquarters and abducted four officers, officials said Saturday.

The soldier was one of four Swedish soldiers injured Friday when the bomb tore through a vehicle carrying peacekeepers in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif, the Swedish military and the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force said.

Another soldier was in serious condition, the Swedish Armed Forces said. Two civilians were also injured in the attack, Afghan officials said.

Before sunrise Saturday, militants attacked a district police office in Logar province near the capital, burning it down and abducting four officers, provincial deputy police chief Abdul Rasool said. Police suffered no casualties, and it was unclear whether any militants were killed or wounded, Rasool said.

He said security forces were searching for the militants and the missing policemen.

Militants led by remnants of the Taliban, whose government was ousted as a result of U.S.-led attacks in late 2001, often attack police, Afghan army, U.S.-led coalition and NATO-led forces. A surge in violence across Afghanistan has left almost 1,500 people dead this year.

Sweden has about 90 military personnel in the 12,000-strong peacekeeping force. The attack in Mazr-e-Sharif came less than two weeks after two suicide bombers attacked NATO peacekeepers in Kabul, killing a German soldier and eight Afghans.

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