Diggers 'recovering' after Afghan blast

Two Australian soldiers seriously wounded in a bomb blast in Afghanistan on Saturday
are in a satisfactory condition, defence says.
The two unnamed soldiers were wounded when an improvised explosive device (IED)
detonated against their Bushmaster vehicle in the Baluchi Valley region of Oruzgan
Province.
It follows a separate incident on Friday in which an IED blast killed 35-year-old
father of two Private Grant Kirby and 21-year-old Private Tomas Dale and wounded two
other soldiers.
All six were members of the same patrol from the Mentoring Task Force, drawn from
the Brisbane-based 6th Battalion (6RAR).
The task force's commanding officer Lieutenant Colonel Mark Jennings said the two
wounded soldiers were treated by their mates at the incident scene before being
evacuated to a nearby ISAF medical facility for further treatment.
"The team had the site secured, first aid applied and casualty evacuation under way
in matter of minutes," he said in a statement.
"The process worked extremely well, with both soldiers receiving quality medical
attention at Tarin Kowt less than 50 minutes after the blast occurred."
Lieutenant Colonel Jennings said the task force was still coming to terms with the
loss of Private Dale and Private Kirby.
"It's testament to the professionalism of the soldiers I proudly command that they
have got straight back into the job at hand and performed admirably under trying
circumstances," he said.
Family members of both wounded soldiers have been notified.
The death of the two soldiers on Friday took the Australian death toll to 20 in
almost a decade in Afghanistan.
Another 149 soldiers have been wounded over this period, with 49 so far this year.



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