Estonian soldier dies in Afghanistan

TALLINN- MasterSergeant Allain Tikko, a thirty-year-old Estonian soldier serving in Afghanistan waskilled in an attack on June 15.

"I bow my head in deep mourning in memory of Allain Tikko, an Estonian soldierthat has fallen in battle," President Toomas Hendrik Ilves wrote to the familyof Tikko.

"Warrant Officer Allain Tikko, who previously served on three foreign missions,was a professional and brave soldier, a reliable comrade-in-arms for his fellowsoldiers. It is unfair and disconsolately painful that we now remember him withthoughts of bereavement," President Ilves wrote.

"Perhaps, along with words of consolation, you can find strength in theknowledge that although Allain Tikko died far from home, he was protecting thesecurity of Estoniaas a NATO ally. Allain Tikko died for Estonia," the Head of State wrote.

Prime Minister ValdisDombrovskis and Foreign Minister Maris Riekstins on behalf of the Government ofLatvia have sent letters of condolences to the Estonian Prime Minister and ForeignMinister.