Finnish peacekeepers engaged in yet another exchange of fire in Afghanistan

No casualties in the attack on Thursday

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Finnish peacekeepers were engaged in yet another exchange of fire in Northern Afghanistan on Thursday afternoon. None of the 18 Finns and one Swede targeted by the aggressors were hurt however, explained Lieutenant-Colonel Ahti Kurvinen, the commander of the Finnish ISAF peacekeeping forces, when interviewed over the telephone from Afghanistan.
      The exchange of fire, which lasted for forty minutes, started when unidentified attackers opened fire against a patrol in the western part of the area under the responsibility of the Finnish-Swedish troops. The unit responded to the firing and withdrew into a better position after which the engagement continued.
     
The firefight began at around 5 p.m. local time (15:30 Finnish time). At around 8:30 p.m. Kurvinen explained that the squad patrol in question had just returned to the base “not too long ago”. At that time Kurvinen still did not have information regarding the number of the aggressors or the weapons they had used.
      “This is an outpost. The place where the incident took place is at the very western end of our area of responsibility, around 200 kilometres from the base”, explained Kurvinen. “More information is likely to be available in the morning”, Kurvinen added.
     
The Sayyad region, where the skirmish took place, is one of the two sections of the Finnish-Swedish responsibility area that are considered restless. In these areas the insurgents receive support from the locals for ethnic reasons.
      The Finnish peacekeepers fired their first shots in anger in Afghanistan last Saturday. Last week the Finns were targeted in three separate attacks.
     
The hotting up of the situation in the areas patrolled by the Finnish peacekeepers has prompted a certain amount of debate over whether the country is technically "at war": some military analysts charge this is the de facto state of affairs, but government spokesmen have played down the matter.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Häkämies: Additional forces to Afghanistan only for election (12.6.2009)

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