Dylan Welch
Two Australian soldiers have been shot while guarding a bomb site in Afghanistan, taking the number of Australian soldiers wounded in Afghanistan last year to 64.
The pair, from a Mentoring Task Force in Oruzgan province, were shot on Thursday afternoon, local time.
The first soldier had been guarding the site of a suspected improvised bomb when he was shot by an unknown person. A second soldier, guarding the landing zone for a medical evacuation helicopter for his comrade, was then shot from a unknown location a short time later.
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They were taken to the International Security Assistance Force base at Tarin Kowt. One was later transferred to Kandahar for further treatment.
Both were in a satisfactory condition yesterday, a Defence spokesman said.
The Australian Defence Force has had 164 soldiers wounded and 21 killed in Afghanistan since 2002.
Australia has set a withdrawal timetable of 2012-2014.
Source: www. smh.com.au
