The number of fatalities has caused a stir in Germany since it is the highest of all deployments abroad that the German army has ever participated in since World War II and because the German participation in the conflict is controversial. ISAF participation marks the first time since World War II that German ground troops have been confronted with an organized enemy. Prior to 2002, the Armed Forces had sustained only two losses of life connected to direct hostile activities, (A soldier with UN troops in Cambodia was shot dead in 1993 and a medical officer died when the helicopter he was travelling in was shot down by Georgian insurgents in 2003).