AMMAN: The Jordanian Army announced Thursday that one of its ranking officers was killed in Afghanistan earlier on Wednesday.
"Captain Ali bin Zeid was martyred as he performed his humanitarian duty along with other Jordanian troops operating in Afghanistan," the official Petra news agency quoted an army spokesman as saying.
The statement gave no details as to the circumstances of Bin Zeid's death, but said that he held the title of "Sherif," an indication that he was close to the ruling family. He was the first Jordanian soldier to be killed in Afghanistan.
Jordan is the only Arab country, which has publicly contributed troops to the US-led military alliance in Afghanistan, but the authorities so far refrained from disclosing their number.
However, NATO's website listed 90 Jordanian soldiers alongside other contributions to the force.
