French sapper killed in mine accident on Tajik-Afghan border

DUSHANBE, April 19 (RIA Novosti) - A mine killed a French sapper working on the Tajik-Afghan border Wednesday, Tajikistan's center for mine clearing operations said.

The French mine-clearing instructor was badly wounded when an anti-personnel mine exploded. He died in the hospital.

Mine clearing operations began on the Tajik-Afghan border on April 11, 2006. The border was mined during the civil war in Tajikistan in 1992-1997 to prevent Taliban extremists from penetrating through from Afghanistan.