Act of Terrorism
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- Date: 09.07.2013
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During training of the Slovak soldiers with the International military police in ISAF, Afghanistan on Tuesday, 9 July, a Slovak soldier was shot dead; two other members of the Slovak Armed Forces suffered grievous injuries and four soldiers suffered light injuries. “According to our information, all the wounded soldiers are currently stabilized and I do believe they will recover from the injuries they suffered,” said the Minister of Defence Martin Glváč. Despite stringent security measures it was impossible to prevent the tragedy. Martin Glváč and the Minister of Foreign Affairs Miroslav Lajčák extended their deepest sympathies to the family of the deceased soldier.
“I was deeply saddened to hear of the loss of life and of the other soldiers having been wounded,” said the Minister of Defence. The Minister of Foreign Affairs M. Lajčák declared that our country would not feel intimidated by this terrorist attack. The engagement of the members of the Armed Forces of the Slovak Republic in ISAF operation is valued very highly abroad. Since 2003, more than 3,000 Slovak soldiers have served in Afghanistan. They would demine airfields and roads, build bridges and a school, and now they train and mentor the Afghan soldiers and prepare the country for transition to a peace time. Not even this act of terrorism will not make Slovakia review the stand the country takes and withdraw from Afghanistan. “Terrorists are cowards and only cowards flee their fate. Slovakia will remain part of fight against terror; we will maintain our presence in Afghanistan even after 2014 when we will perform training and mentoring tasks. Our aim is to deter and preclude such shameful attacks in the future,” said Lajčák.
The assault came as a surprise since Tuesday was the day when Ramadan started and all the Afghan soldiers, who observe Ramadan, stop carrying guns. Guns are only carried by members of the force protection units. The attacker from the ranks of the Afghan National Forces launched fire from the watch-tower. According to the Minister Glváč, this malicious and felonious act qualifies as a terrorist attack, so-called green on blue, that is to say an attack of a terrorist infiltrating the Afghan Security Forces. The attacker was seized by the American soldiers after the incident.
“I was deeply saddened to hear of the loss of life and of the other soldiers having been wounded,” said the Minister of Defence. The Minister of Foreign Affairs M. Lajčák declared that our country would not feel intimidated by this terrorist attack. The engagement of the members of the Armed Forces of the Slovak Republic in ISAF operation is valued very highly abroad. Since 2003, more than 3,000 Slovak soldiers have served in Afghanistan. They would demine airfields and roads, build bridges and a school, and now they train and mentor the Afghan soldiers and prepare the country for transition to a peace time. Not even this act of terrorism will not make Slovakia review the stand the country takes and withdraw from Afghanistan. “Terrorists are cowards and only cowards flee their fate. Slovakia will remain part of fight against terror; we will maintain our presence in Afghanistan even after 2014 when we will perform training and mentoring tasks. Our aim is to deter and preclude such shameful attacks in the future,” said Lajčák.
The assault came as a surprise since Tuesday was the day when Ramadan started and all the Afghan soldiers, who observe Ramadan, stop carrying guns. Guns are only carried by members of the force protection units. The attacker from the ranks of the Afghan National Forces launched fire from the watch-tower. According to the Minister Glváč, this malicious and felonious act qualifies as a terrorist attack, so-called green on blue, that is to say an attack of a terrorist infiltrating the Afghan Security Forces. The attacker was seized by the American soldiers after the incident.
