NYT: Son of Top Dutch General Is Killed in Afghanistan

Dennis van Uhm killed in action and increasing Dutch military toll in Afghanistan to 16

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Son of Top Dutch General Is Killed in Afghanistan

A roadside bomb attack on a patrol of Dutch soldiers on Friday killed the son of the Netherlands’ top military officer, a day after his father took command of his country’s armed forces, officials said. Lt. Dennis van Uhm, 23, the son of Gen. Peter van Uhm, was one of two Dutch soldiers killed in the explosion seven miles northwest of Camp Holland, the Dutch military base in Oruzgan Province, a spokesman, Lt. Gen. Freek Meulman, said. Through a spokesman, the Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende called Lieutenant van Uhm’s death “an unprecedented tragedy” and said the weekly Dutch cabinet meeting had been briefly halted so ministers could reflect privately. There was no immediate comment from General van Uhm, who took up a new job as the overall commander of the Dutch military on Thursday in a ceremony outside Parliament in The Hague.Friday’s bombing brings the death toll of Dutch soldiers to 16 since the Netherlands began contributing combat forces to NATO’s Afghanistan mission in August 2006. The Dutch have 1,650 troops in southern Afghanistan.