Associated Press -- PRAGUE, Czech Republic A Czech soldier died on Thursday from injuries he had suffered in a car accident in Iraq at the beginning of the month.

Major General Rostislav Mazurek, deputy chief of staff of the Czech Armed Forces, told journalists that Pavel Maurer died in Prague's Military Hospital from injuries suffered on May 9, 2003, in a car accident some 150 kilometers, or 94 miles, south of Baghdad.

Colonel Miroslav Bartos, the director of the hospital said Maurer, a sergeant-major, was admitted into the hospital on May 12. He attributed the cause of death to the "failure of vital bodily organs."

Pavel Maurer, 25, of Brno, 200 kilometers, or 125 miles southeast of Prague, was member of the Czech military contingent stationed in Kuwait. His death was the first reported fatality in the unit.