THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- The son of the Netherlands' top military officer was killed early Friday by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan, the day after his father assumed command of the Dutch armed forces, the Defense Ministry said. Lt. Dennis van Uhm, 23, was among two NATO soldiers killed and two wounded in the explosion in Uruzgan province, said spokesman Lt. Gen. Freek Meulman. The second fatality was not fully identified. All the casualties were Dutch. The soldiers' vehicle was returning to base after a large reconnaissance mission in the area, where they face Taliban insurgents, the military said. "There is no reason to believe that the roadside bomb attack was directed at Lt. Van Uhm," said Meulman. Gen. Peter van Uhm took up his task as overall commander at a ceremony in the courtyard of the Dutch parliament complex on Thursday, succeeding Gen. Dick Berlijn. "The contrast between yesterday's festivities ... could not be starker," Eimert Van Middelkoop told reporters at the hastily arranged news conference. The casualties bring the death toll of Dutch soldiers to 16 since the Netherlands began contributing combat forces to NATO in August 2006. The Dutch have 1,650 troops in southern Afghanistan.
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