Australian soldier killed in Afghanistan battle

SYDNEY - Prime Minister Kevin Rudd warned Australians Monday to expect more soldiers to die in the growing conflict in Afghanistan after a commando died in a gun battle overnight.
The special forces soldier, slain as Taliban rebels attacked his patrol in the south of the country, was the fifth Australian to die in combat in Afghanistan since 2002 and the fourth in the past seven months.
'2008 will be difficult and dangerous and bloody, and the Australian nation needs to prepare itself for further losses in the year ahead,' Rudd told a news conference.
'We are facing a change of season, as the winter snows melt and the spring thaw begins, which usually indicates a heightening in military activity on the part of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.'
Lance Corporal Jason Marks, 27, was killed in southern Uruzgan province by Taliban militants, defence forces chief Air Marshal Angus Houston said earlier.
'The engagement in which he died was characterised by a heavy exchange of small arms fire and rocket propelled grenades.
'Four other soldiers were wounded by small arms fire in the same action,' he said, noting their injuries were not life-threatening.
Australia has around 1,000 troops in Afghanistan, mostly assisting a Dutch-led reconstruction operation in Uruzgan, a former Taliban stronghold.
The 1996-2001 Taliban government was ousted in a US-led invasion for harbouring Al-Qaeda leaders after the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington.
The Taliban have regrouped to wage an insurgency against the government, which is supported by thousands of international troops from around 40 mostly Western nations. The fighting last year left 8,000 people dead, most of them rebel fighters.
Word of the Australian soldier's death came a day after militants attacked a key military parade in the Afghan capital Kabul -- attended by President Hamid Karzai -- with rockets and gunfire, leaving three people dead.
Rudd said Afghanistan had a history of strong resistance to foreign troop activity in the country.
'Therefore, the history is against us, but remember why we are there,' he said.