Australian soldier killed in combat

An Australian soldier was shot dead in the southern Afghanistan province of Oruzgan as his patrol pursued Taliban fighters, officials said.

Air Service Regiment Sgt. Matthew Locke was the second Australian soldier killed in less than three weeks, but Prime Minister John Howard said the country's military commitment in Afghanistan would not change.

A soldier killed by a roadside bomb in the province Oct. 8 was the first Australian combat casualty in Afghanistan or Iraq.