A Georgian soldier has died in a military hospital in the town of Gori six months after being badly injured in Afghanistan, the Georgian Ministry of Defense said on July 28.

The latest death brings to seventeen the total number of Georgian soldiers killed in Afghanistan since joining the NATO-led operation in November, 2009.

Corporal Givi Pantsuala was wounded as a result of mortar shell explosion in January, 2012 and was undergoing treatment in the U.S. military hospital in Germany before he was transferred to Gori military hospital in early March, according to MoD.

MoD’s statement does not provide other details, but the Georgian media sources reported that Corporal Pantsuala sustained injuries in the same incident in which Corporal Shalva Pailodze from the 31st infantry battalion of the third brigade was killed in early January in the Helmand province.