Pole killed in Afghanistan

28th January 2011

Death brought the grim realities of the Afghan war back home to Poland when a soldier and a civilian died after their Rosomak armoured vehicle was caught in the blast of a roadside bomb.

Private First Class Marcin Pastusiak, who was promoted to sergeant posthumously, and civilian medic Marcin Knap died in the explosion, while two other servicemen sustained injuries.

The deaths of the two men brought the Polish body count in Afghanistan to 23.

In a letter to the dead soldier’s family read at his funeral, President Bronislaw Komorowski said that the sergeant, although far from his native land, “had carried out his duties conscientiously and courageously”, adding that he had died ...