A 44-year-old Dutch soldier was killed and three were injured in fighting close to the Afghan city of Chora in Uruzgan province on Monday, the defence ministry said.

The circumstances of his death are under investigation but he is not thought to have been killed by enemy fire, the spokesman said. The dead soldier is sergeant major Jos Leunissen, who came from Assen.
On Friday, a 20-year-old Dutch soldier was killed in the region by a suicide bomber.