Killed Aust soldier 'elite and brave': PM PRIME Minister Julia Gillard has described the latest Australian to die in Afghanistan as an elite soldier and a very brave man. The special forces soldier was killed by small arms fire during an insurgent engagement in Afghanistan on Saturday, Defence force chief General David Hurley has announced. He is the 40th Australian soldier to die in the war but the first since October last year. Ms Gillard says the man's death is a painful reminder that the war is ongoing. "I think many had probably lulled themselves into a false sense of security that we would see no more losses in Afghanistan," she told reporters in Canberra. This news reminds us that the mission in ongoing, that the danger is ongoing. Ms Gillard offered the man's family the nation's condolences. "He was an a elite soldier and a very brave man," she said. Every death, every loss in Afghanistan hits the nation hard.