Two Diggers among 10 killed

CANBERRA - Australia has reaffirmed its support for the war in Afghanistan, despite the deaths of two more of its soldiers on Monday, who were among 10 killed across the country in the bloodiest day this year for allied forces fighting Taleban insurgents.

The nation's acting Defence Force Chief, Lieutenant-General David Hurley, also said positive trends were emerging.

"The Chief of the Defence Force [Air Chief Marshall Angus Houston] reported at the Senate estimates hearing last week that some good things are happening and we're heading in the right direction," he said.

But the deaths of two young soldiers on their first tour of duty in Afghanistan have come as a grim marker of the cost of Australia's commitment.

"This is a sober reminder to us all about the difficult and dangerous work that our soldiers are doing each day in Afghanistan, whether it's in the news or whether it's not," Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said.

"It's a sobering reminder that we are up against a determined and dangerous enemy."

Opposition leader Tony Abbott said the work was dangerous but in an important cause.

"I know that all Australians will be reaching out for the families of those killed soldiers in their hour of terrible need and grief."

The two Australians, whose names have not yet been released, were working to clear hidden bombs when an improvised explosive device detonated during a patrol in the Mirabad Valley region of Oruzgan Province on Monday.

One soldier was killed immediately, and the other died after being flown by helicopter to a military hospital at the Australian base at Karin Towt. An explosives dog working with the pair was also killed.

They had been operating with the 1st Mentoring Task Force based at Karin Towt, working to train the Afghan National Army.

Earlier, their patrol had uncovered three substantial caches of weapons and ammunition, including 1600 bullets, 23 rocket-propelled grenades, five mortar rounds and fuses.

The deaths of the two soldiers - from the Brisbane-based 2nd Combat Engineer Regiment - were the first multiple fatalities the Australian Army has suffered in one day since the Vietnam War.

They brought to 13 the number of Diggers killed since Australia joined the war against the Taleban in 2002, most of whom were killed by improvised bombs. A further 126 Australians have been wounded in action, 26 of them this year.

The grim statistics indicate the deepening intensity of the war: as many Diggers have been wounded so far this year as in the whole of 2008, and more than in any other 12-month period except the 37 injured last year.

The 10 allied deaths on Monday added to a toll that had already reached 245 this year and which had claimed a total of 1812 American Nato and other troops since the US-led invasion of 2001.

They came as the Taleban continued to intensify their operations as Nato troops increased their numbers and prepared for a major drive into the Kandahar region.

Five American soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb in eastern Afghanistan, two others died in separate incidents in the south, a French Foreign Legionnaire was killed and three others wounded by a rocket northeast of Kabul, and an American contractor and two civilians were killed by a suicide bomber in Kandahar city.

Hurley did not think Monday's casualties were connected. "There are a lot of troops in action, a lot going on at this present time, and this has just been a difficult day for us ...

"The Afghanistan theatre of war is a fairly large area and the 10 Nato casualties that have occurred over the past day were quite well distributed across the country."

HEAVY TOLL

*7 Americans
Five in a single blast in eastern Afghanistan, one in a bombing and the other by small arms fire.

*2 Australians
Working to clear hidden bombs when an improvised explosive device detonated.

*1 French
A sergeant in the French Foreign Legion killed by a rocket.