Ukraine opens terror probe after OSCE medic killed

Ukraine opened a terror investigation today into a mine blast that killed an American medic from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe's monitoring team in the country's rebel-held east.

The OSCE suffered its first casualty in the three-year war in Europe's backyard after an armoured vehicle hit a landmine yesterday in the Russian-backed separatist fiefdom of Lugansk.

An unidentified US medic was killed and two others, German and Czech nationals, were wounded as they travelled on a patrol monitoring the conflict that has claimed more than 10,000 lives.

The local branch of Ukraine's SBU security service in the conflict-hit Lugansk region said in a statement that it was treating the blast as an "act of terror that led to the loss of life."

The incident occurred in an insurgent-controlled part of the region and the separatists themselves have not yet said whether they intend to probe the circumstances under which the OSCE vehicle ended up driving over a landmine.

A spokesman for the Russian-backed Lugansk rebel police force told

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)