DOD -- Private Benjamin Ranaudo was killed by an anti-personnel explosive device in Afghanistan yesterday.

Private Ranaudo was a member of the Townsville based 1st Battalion, the Royal Australian Regiment. He was a member of the Mentoring and Reconstruction Task Force in Afghanistan and was killed while on operations north of Tarin Kowt early Saturday morning, Afghanistan time.

Private Ranaudo was 22 years old and leaves behind a loving family who are currently receiving support from Defence representatives.

The family has requested their privacy be respected during this difficult time. They will not be conducting any media interviews.

The Age -- SERGEANT Brett Till, the 10th Australian soldier killed in Afghanistan, leaves two young children and a new wife pregnant with the couple's third child.

Sergeant Till, 31, was one of the army's most highly trained specialists, a bomb disposal expert from the Incident Response Regiment.

Herald Sun -- THE ninth Australian soldier killed in Afghanistan was Corporal Matthew Hopkins.

Cpl Hopkins was 21-years-old, and had a young wife and baby boy, Sky News reported.

He was killed in a Taliban ambush at a village about 12km north of the Australian base at Tarin Kowt, in the Baluchi Valley yesterday.

Eight of the nine Diggers to die in Afghanistan have been killed in the Baluchi Valley and the adjacent Chora Valley in Uruzgan province.

The Australian -- THE family of Private Greg Sher, the latest Australian soldier killed in Afghanistan, have described him as a quiet acheiver who always got the job done.

The Defence Department last night named 30-year-old Private Sher, whose name was initially withheld at the request of his family, after he was killed by Taliban insurgents during a rocket attack on a forward base in Oruzgan province in southeastern Afghanistan on Sunday.

The Jewish soldier was a member of the Sydney-based 1st Commando Regiment and at the time of the attack was with a Special Operations Task Group element that had deployed from Tarin Kowt to a provincial patrol base.

Live News -- The NSW community of Armidale is today paying tribute to Lt Michael Fussell, who has become the seventh Australian soldier to be killed in Afghanistan.



Lt Fussell was killed by an improvised explosive device detonation in Afghanistan on Thursday.



The 25-year-old was a member of the Sydney-based 4th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment and was part of an operation on foot when the device was detonated near the patrol team.

ABC -- A member of the SAS was killed and three of his comrades were wounded when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan yesterday, the Australian Defence Force (ADF) has confirmed.

The head of the ADF, Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, says Signaller Sean McCarthy died after the vehicle he was in was hit by an improvised explosive device (IED) during a patrol in Uruzgan Province just before 3pm AEST.

Two other Australian Special Operations Task Group (SOTG) soldiers and a soldier from another coalition member nation were wounded in the attack.

News.com -- AN Australian Special Forces soldier has been killed and four other soldiers wounded in a Taliban attack in Afghanistan.

The commando was named as Lance Corporal Jason Marks, 27, from the 4th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment.

He lived in Sydney with his wife and two children.

The Sydney Morning Herald quoted Kenneth Marks, Lance-Cpl Marks's uncle, as saying: "He was a great young bloke and it's a shame that he was over there.".

The Age -- The father of an Australian commando killed in a battle with Taliban forces in Afghanistan says he is "very proud" of his son.

Private Luke Worsley, 26, of the 4RAR commando unit in Sydney, was killed in action about 7.30am (AEDT) today, Defence force chief Angus Houston said.

His father, John Worsley, said the family was distraught at the loss but described his son as a "brave soldier".

"We're holding up as good as possible," he said.

News.com -- SLAIN Perth war hero Matthew Locke did not fear dying during ferocious firefights with the Taliban - he was too busy "looking after" his mates.

Sgt Locke said last year that he had huge respect for the ability of the enemy, born out of a daredevil first tour of duty to Afghanistan in which he diced with death - earning a Medal for Gallantry and legend status among his fellow soldiers.

The decorated SAS soldier spoke to The Sunday Times after the Governor-General, Maj-Gen Michael Jeffery, presented him with the medal at Swanbourne's Campbell Barracks last December.

The Sydney Morning Herald -- The family of the soldier killed in Afghanistan says he was a patriotic Australian who loved his work with the army.

Trooper David Pearce, 41, was killed during a roadside bomb attack on the light armoured vehicle he was driving in Afghanistan's Oruzgan province yesterday.

The Brisbane-based father of two is the first soldier to be killed by direct enemy action in the current Australian deployments to Afghanistan or Iraq.