Son of top Dutch general killed in Afghanistan

KABUL—A roadside bomb attack on a patrol of Dutch soldiers killed the son of the Netherlands’ top military officer on Friday, a day after his father took command of the country’s armed forces, officials said.
Lt. Dennis van Uhm, 23, was one of two Dutch soldiers killed in the explosion 7 miles northwest of Camp Holland, the Dutch military base in restive Uruzgan province, spokesman Lt. Gen. Freek Meulman said. A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for the attack.
Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende called Van Uhm’s death “an unprecedented tragedy” and said the weekly Dutch cabinet meeting was briefly halted so ministers could reflect privately.
There was no immediate comment from Gen. Peter van Uhm, who took up a new job as the overall commander of the Dutch military in a ceremony outside parliament in The Hague on Thursday. “This morning I asked Gen. Van Uhm, the military commander, to concentrate on his personal situation,” Defense Minister Eimert Van Middelkoop told reporters at a hastily called news conference in the Netherlands. “The contrast between yesterday’s festivities ... could not be starker.” The Dutch are fighting alongside U.S, British and Canadian troops at the forefront of NATO’s battles with the Taliban and other insurgents in southern Afghanistan. Other NATO nations such as Germany, Italy and Spain are based in the relatively safe north and west and have been criticized for not sending their combat troops to help out in a fight.
Friday’s casualties bring the death toll of Dutch soldiers to 16 since the Netherlands began contributing combat forces to the NATO mission in Afghanistan in August 2006. The Dutch have 1,650 troops in southern Afghanistan. In the small eastern town of Ermelo, where both the slain soldiers had been stationed, local authorities lowered flags to half mast and opened a condolence register at the town hall for local residents to sign.
“It is particularly bitter that after yesterday’s ceremonial changing of the military command we heard that this family — which yesterday was so happy — got such terrible news,” Balkenende said. Two other soldiers were wounded in the attack on the Dutch soldiers’ vehicle, which was returning to base after a reconnaissance mission, the Dutch military said.
Qari Yousef Ahmadi, a spokesman for the Taliban, claimed responsibility for the blast, and said the militants will continue their attacks against the Dutch troops. Ahmadi claimed that the militants knew in advance about Van Uhm’s movements. “When he came out the Taliban planted a mine, which killed him,” Ahmadi said in a phone call from an undisclosed location.—Agencies