THE HAGUE, Netherlands, April 20, SPA -- A Dutch soldier was killed early Friday in an explosion in southern Afghanistan, the defense chief said. The soldier is the first fatality from hostile action among Dutch troops serving with NATO forces in the country. Gen. Dick Berlijn said the soldier, a corporal whose name was not released, was killed in the southern Helmand province while on a foot patrol as part of Operation Achilles, launched last month by NATO to flush out militants entrenched in the opium-producing area. Most Dutch troops in Afghanistan are stationed inneighboring Uruzgan province on a reconstruction mission, but Dutch forces also have taken part in NATO offensives against the Taliban. Further details were not immediately available. The corporal was the sixth Dutch soldier killed on Afghan duty since the government sent nearly 2,000 troops to Uruzgan last August. Three died in aviation accidents, one in an armored car crash and another in an apparent suicide, the Associated Press reported.--SPA www.spa.gov.sa/442658