Afghanistan War News Updates -- January 1, 2009

Grisly year: The bomb disposal expert's death near Sangin yesterday takes the toll for 2008 to 108, making it the bloodiest year since the Falklands

British Bomb Disposal Expert Dies In Afghan Explosion On New Year's Eve, Ending Grisly Year For UK Forces -- The Daily Mail

An Army bomb disposal expert was killed by an explosion in Afghanistan on New Year's Eve, the Ministry of Defence announced today.

The soldier, from 33 Engineer Regiment, Royal Engineers, was fatally injured by a blast near Sangin in Helmand Province and died yesterday afternoon.

It is understood he was on patrol conducting controlled explosions in order to save the lives of his comrades when he was mortally wounded.

Read more ....

More News On Afghanistan

Afghan militant attacks set pace for a bloody 2010 -- AFP
Afghanistan war: Suicide attack highlights Taliban reach -- Christian Science Monitor

Taliban militants behead 6 ex-colleagues in S. Afghanistan -- China View
Taliban beheads six Afghan 'spies': police -- AFP

More civilian deaths claimed in Afghanistan -- Yahoo News/AP
UN Says Afghans Slain in Troop Raid Were Students -- New York Times/AP
Hamid Karzai demands US hand over gunmen who killed children -- Times Online

UK bomb disposal expert killed in Afghanistan -- Times Online
Death takes 2009 British death toll in Afghanistan to 108 -- AFP

Number of U.S. soldiers killed in Afghanistan doubles in 2009 -- L.A. Times
2009 Deadliest Year for U.S. in Afghanistan -- ABC News

Soldiers prepare to send bodies of four comrades, journalist back to Canada -- National Post
Graphic: Afghanistan death toll -- Baltimore Sun
US Military Deaths in Afghanistan Region at 861 -- New York Times/AP

Two French journalists kidnapped in Afghanistan -- AFP
Two French journalists kidnapped in Afghanistan -- Deutsche Welle

Is power in Afghanistan returning to ethnic fault lines? -- Christian Science Monitor
US Marines in southern Afghanistan keep their hands off opium poppies, but farmers still upset -- Canadian Press
An Army colonel in Afghanistan on keeping the bad guys out -- Miami Herald/McClatchy News
Attack signals growing struggle for troops in Afghanistan -- Globe And Mail
The U.N. in Afghanistan -- New York Times editorial