CANBERRA, Australia - An official says an Australian soldier has been killed in an operation that destroyed a large cache of insurgent munitions in Afghanistan. The casualty is the 27th Australian death in the Afghan conflict and the fourth in two weeks.

Australian Defense Force Chief Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston said Tuesday that the 23-year-old combat engineer was killed Monday in Helmand province.

Houston says the munitions cache included 70 anti-personnel mines that are often used by insurgents to make improvised explosive devices.

Australia has 1,550 troops in Afghanistan and is the largest contributor to the US-led force there outside NATO.