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Topic: Afghanistan - 2nd Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment - 2007 (Read 13720 times)
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ranrad
Ron [Andy] Andrews
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Well, great reports here Mike ,and thanks once again. It is really nice to see the Gov Gen have the courage and committment to be with her people and show the genuine feelings she has. To say i am impressed is not enough. This has to mean so much to our gals and guys over there and back here doing such a necessary and fine job. One can only add their personal thanks to our people, and indeed all the Nato people doing great things for the people of our world. I believe you all walk with God, you do His work ... Thank you all.. ranrad
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RCAF,CAF, converted RCR?,1RCR 74-77 CD: SSM (Nato);CPSM,;UN-Cyp.; UN- Golan
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Mike Blais
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I like her. Too bad she was denied access earlier in favour of the politicians, her sincerity is good for the nation.
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1RCR 1977-79 Depot (Italy PL), B Coy, Mortars, Pioneers, D Coy (CFB London)
3RCR 1979-82 M Coy, Pipes & Drums, Sigs, Mortars. (CFB Baden-Soellingen)
1RCR 1982-88 Mortars. Dukes, Cyprus-Welfare NCO 84-85, Injured, WO&Sgts Mess, (CFB London)
1988-92 Med-remuster to HELL/ 35 DU, CFB Baden
1992 Medical release. God Bless you all!
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Mike Blais
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Coalition makes slow progress against Taliban in south Afghanistan
Canadian Press
Sunday, March 11, 2007
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (CP) - NATO officials say they are making slow but steady progress in the campaign to drive the Taliban out of northern Helmand province.
A NATO spokesman said British commandos backed by NATO air strikes have destroyed Taliban strongholds south of Lashkargah.
Squadron Leader Dave Marsh said British-led forces also continued to push out a wider perimeter around the strategic Kajaki dam.
Marsh said troops from the Royal Canadian Regiment are patrolling just across the border in northwest Kandahar.
He said the Canadians have been meeting with village elders in the Maywand district to win the confidence of the local people.
So far three British soldiers have been killed in Operation Achilles.
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1RCR 1977-79 Depot (Italy PL), B Coy, Mortars, Pioneers, D Coy (CFB London)
3RCR 1979-82 M Coy, Pipes & Drums, Sigs, Mortars. (CFB Baden-Soellingen)
1RCR 1982-88 Mortars. Dukes, Cyprus-Welfare NCO 84-85, Injured, WO&Sgts Mess, (CFB London)
1988-92 Med-remuster to HELL/ 35 DU, CFB Baden
1992 Medical release. God Bless you all!
Pro Patria
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Mike Blais
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O'Connor to meet with Afghan rights group on detainees
Last Updated: Sunday, March 11, 2007 | 1:26 PM ET
CBC News
Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor arrived in Kandahar on Sunday to visit Canadian troops and meet with officials of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission.
The minister's unannounced visit to southern Afghanistan comes less than two weeks after Canada signed a deal with the commission, assigning the group to monitor what happens to detainees captured by Canadians.
O'Connor has been under fire over Canada's policy regarding the handover of suspected Taliban detainees to the Afghan government.
He initially said that the International Committee of the Red Cross monitored the treatment of such detainees. The ICRC has said that isn't the case.
Under a new agreement, Canada must notify both the ICRC and the office of the human rights commission in Kandahar about the handling of detainees.
"We're pretty confident that with the human rights organization reporting back to us — that's the agreement — they will report back to us any abuse, and with the Red Cross monitoring and reporting to the Afghan government, that should be a good arrangement," the minister told CBC News.
O'Connor said he will meet with members of the commission to ensure it will report back to the Canadian government any details of detainee abuse.
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1RCR 1977-79 Depot (Italy PL), B Coy, Mortars, Pioneers, D Coy (CFB London)
3RCR 1979-82 M Coy, Pipes & Drums, Sigs, Mortars. (CFB Baden-Soellingen)
1RCR 1982-88 Mortars. Dukes, Cyprus-Welfare NCO 84-85, Injured, WO&Sgts Mess, (CFB London)
1988-92 Med-remuster to HELL/ 35 DU, CFB Baden
1992 Medical release. God Bless you all!
Pro Patria
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Mike Blais
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Achilles forces get warm reception
By JOHN COTTER, The Canadian Press
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Coalition forces are making some progress in the campaign to drive the Taliban out of northern Helmand province, a NATO official says. Canadian troops deployed to block insurgent supply routes say local inhabitants appear glad to see them there.
British Royal Marine Commandos backed by NATO air strikes and Afghan artillery destroyed Taliban strongholds in the Garmsir area south of the provincial capital of Lashkargah, the alliance said yesterday.
The Garmsir action has so far been one of only a few standup fights between Taliban and coalition forces since NATO’s Operation Achilles began last week.
“They (the Taliban) are not facing up to the troops,” said Squadron Leader Dave Marsh, spokesman for Regional Command South.
“In other areas it is more guerrilla tactics. Take a quick few shots and get out of there. But where we go in and engage them, then that option of actually running away proves a little bit difficult.”
British-led forces also continued to push out a wider perimeter around the strategic Kajaki dam, he said.
More than 200 troops of the Royal Canadian Regiment battle group have been supporting the offensive by patrolling the Maywand district along the northwest region of Kandahar, bordering Helmand province.
Their job is to disrupt Taliban forces in the area and cut their supply and infiltration routes.
Since the offensive began, the Canadians have been holding shuras – community meetings – with village elders to try to win the local people over.
“We are generally getting the feeling that the population likes having us here,” said Capt. David Nixon of H company, 2 Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment.
The Gagetown, N.B.-based force includes infantry, light armoured vehicles, 46-tonne Leopard 2 tanks, artillery and military engineers.
There has been one report of a Canadian vehicle being damaged by a landmine, but there have been no firefights in the Maywand area and no casualties.
A battalion of paratroopers from the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division is also fighting in the offensive, along with Dutch and other coalition troops.
Operation Achilles will eventually involve 4,500 NATO and 1,000 Afghan soldiers – one of the largest multinational forces fielded in a single operation in Afghanistan.
The goal of the offensive is to destroy the Taliban stronghold in order to pave the way for economic development.
Three British soldiers have been killed since Operation Achilles began last Tuesday.
Afghan troops have also been killed, including eight border police officers who were caught in an ambush by the Taliban near Arghistan, east of Kandahar city.
There are no estimates of Taliban casualties.
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1RCR 1977-79 Depot (Italy PL), B Coy, Mortars, Pioneers, D Coy (CFB London)
3RCR 1979-82 M Coy, Pipes & Drums, Sigs, Mortars. (CFB Baden-Soellingen)
1RCR 1982-88 Mortars. Dukes, Cyprus-Welfare NCO 84-85, Injured, WO&Sgts Mess, (CFB London)
1988-92 Med-remuster to HELL/ 35 DU, CFB Baden
1992 Medical release. God Bless you all!
Pro Patria
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Mike Blais
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A ROYAL CANADIAN "NEVER PASSES A FAULT"
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Hillier visits troops in Afghanistan
Last Updated: Monday, March 12, 2007 | 8:50 AM ET
CBC News
Canada's top soldier paid a surprise visit to Afghanistan Monday, a day after the defence minister arrived in the country.
Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Rick Hillier told reporters he doesn't regret signing a 2005 agreement with an Afghan commission to monitor what happens to Taliban suspects captured by Canadians.
Human rights groups have criticized the policy, which doesn't let Canada have any say in the prisoners' treatment once they're in Afghan custody.
"No regrets whatsoever. We're in certain circumstances here and we think we have a very good agreement with the Afghanistan government," said Hillier.
"Opportunities to improve the mechanics of that are always potentially there and formalizing the discussions we started with the human rights commission is one of the ways of doing that."
Hillier's visit comes hours after the arrival late Sunday of Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor in Kandahar.
Continue Article
O'Connor will meet with the head of the Afghan human rights commission to discuss the treatment of Taliban detainees handed over by Canadian troops to the Afghan government.
"I want to look the man in the eyes and I want to be confirmed that they are going to do what they say they are going to do," O'Connor told reporters when he stepped off the plane.
"I want assurances from him that he will monitor and he will inform us of any abuses."
The head of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission in Kandahar is Abdul Noorzai.
Under fire
O'Connor has been under fire over Canada's policy regarding the handover of suspected Taliban detainees.
He initially said that the International Committee of the Red Cross monitored the treatment of such detainees. But the ICRC told the Globe and Mail last week that that wasn't the case.
Responding to that story Thursday, O'Connor clarified that the ICRC has carried out several visits to detainees in temporary Canadian custody in Kandahar.
Under a new agreement, Canada must notify both the ICRC and the office of the human rights commission in Kandahar about the handling of detainees.
With files from the Canadian Press
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1RCR 1977-79 Depot (Italy PL), B Coy, Mortars, Pioneers, D Coy (CFB London)
3RCR 1979-82 M Coy, Pipes & Drums, Sigs, Mortars. (CFB Baden-Soellingen)
1RCR 1982-88 Mortars. Dukes, Cyprus-Welfare NCO 84-85, Injured, WO&Sgts Mess, (CFB London)
1988-92 Med-remuster to HELL/ 35 DU, CFB Baden
1992 Medical release. God Bless you all!
Pro Patria
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Mike Blais
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A ROYAL CANADIAN "NEVER PASSES A FAULT"
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Meanwhile....
Suicide bomber kills three in Afghanistan
Updated Tue. Mar. 13 2007 6:44 AM ET
Associated Press
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- A suicide bomber crossed the border from Pakistan into southern Afghanistan on Tuesday and blew himself up in a crowded pedestrian area, killing three civilians and wounding eight, police said.
The man was standing with luggage in a line of people waiting to be checked by border police when he detonated his bomb, in the town of Waish, about 460 metres inside Afghanistan's Kandahar province, said Gen. Abdul Raziq Khan, the border security police in charge.
Khan said there were no casualties among the police.
Meanwhile in two related attacks in Helmand province, troops shot a suicide bomber who tried to enter an Afghan army recruitment centre, about 45 minutes after a roadside bomb went off near a NATO convoy, police said.
Troops standing guard opened fire on the bomber, who had explosives hidden beneath his clothes, after he tried to enter the recruitment centre in the provincial capital Lashkar Gah and failed to heed their warnings to stop.
The bomber blew himself up too far away to harm anyone seriously, and only slightly wounded two soldiers, said Mohammad Eisah, the province's deputy police chief.
The roadside bomb went off earlier just after a convoy of NATO vehicles had passed in the town, wounding two Afghan civilians, Eisah said. The NATO vehicle was undamaged.
Eisah said police believed the attacks were linked.
NATO-led troops, including Canadians, last week launched their largest offensive yet in the northern part of Helmand, a stronghold for Taliban insurgents who have stepped up attacks over the past year and are threatening a fresh offensive this spring.
Helmand is also the hub of Afghanistan's world-leading opium and heroin trade that is believed to help fund the Taliban but also profits Afghan officials. The government has stepped up its poppy eradication efforts this year _ angering some farmers and others who profit from narcotics.
Despite its efforts to destroy poppies, Afghanistan could still be headed for another record-breaking opium crop this year, the UN says.
Tuesday's violence followed a roadside attack in Bakwa district of neighbouring Farah province which killed nine policemen, including a local commander. The district briefly fell out of government control last month, but security forces have since moved back in.
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1RCR 1977-79 Depot (Italy PL), B Coy, Mortars, Pioneers, D Coy (CFB London)
3RCR 1979-82 M Coy, Pipes & Drums, Sigs, Mortars. (CFB Baden-Soellingen)
1RCR 1982-88 Mortars. Dukes, Cyprus-Welfare NCO 84-85, Injured, WO&Sgts Mess, (CFB London)
1988-92 Med-remuster to HELL/ 35 DU, CFB Baden
1992 Medical release. God Bless you all!
Pro Patria
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Mike Blais
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Canada's job in Kandahar essential, says general
By JOHN MINER, SUN MEDIA
Canada is facing a tough mission in Afghanistan, but the job is doable, a brigadier-general from London said yesterday.
Brig.-Gen. Gary O'Brien returned on Dec. 16 after spending nine months in the country, assisting with running the Afghanistan police force.
"I understand that recent reports are doomy and gloomy, I am exactly the opposite. This is not an easy task, it's quite a difficult job to do.
"But over the next 10 years, we will see a lot of change in Afghanistan and it is absolutely achievable," he said.
Little progress can be expected in the short term, however, O'Brien said.
"It is not something you will see overnight. It won't be done in two years, or three years or five years, but after that you will start to see much more significant progress."
A speaker at the launch of a campaign to raise money for the Royal Canadian Regiment museum in London, O'Brien said Canadians are involved in rebuilding Afghanistan across the country, not just in the dangerous Kandahar region.
The Canadian team includes diplomats and development workers, along with the soldiers providing the security necessary to rebuild the country, he said.
"This is about a top-to-bottom operation for our country. The Afghan mission is a good mission because it isn't about war fighting, it isn't about the American agenda, it is about what Canadians do best, helping people in need."
One of the oldest societies in the world, Afghanistan has been destroyed by 30 years of war, O'Brien said.
There is no running water and even in the capital city, there isn't electricity 24 hours a day.
At the Interior Ministry, responsible for security of the country, including 64,000 police officers, there are exactly five running computers, he said.
"There is no intellectual capital. If you are a high school graduate, you are sometimes a minister of the government," he said.
O'Brien's civilian occupation is manager business development and marketing support at General Dynamics Land Systems Canada.
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1RCR 1977-79 Depot (Italy PL), B Coy, Mortars, Pioneers, D Coy (CFB London)
3RCR 1979-82 M Coy, Pipes & Drums, Sigs, Mortars. (CFB Baden-Soellingen)
1RCR 1982-88 Mortars. Dukes, Cyprus-Welfare NCO 84-85, Injured, WO&Sgts Mess, (CFB London)
1988-92 Med-remuster to HELL/ 35 DU, CFB Baden
1992 Medical release. God Bless you all!
Pro Patria
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Mike Blais
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Kandahar more stable, Hillier says
By The Canadian Press
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Canada has turned a corner in the push to bring stability to a volatile part of Kandahar province, the chief of defence staff said Wednesday.
Gen. Rick Hillier said over the past few months the Panjwaii district west of Kandahar city has been transformed from a dark, deserted battleground into a vibrant community.
Hillier said thousands of families have now moved back into the district and people are once again leaving their lights on at night.
"I think we have turned the corner," Hillier said following a visit with Canadian troops in the area.
"People are rebuilding.
"We saw new grape huts. We saw walls being repaired, vineyards being put back into operation, roads being built."
Panjwaii was a bloody battleground last year as Canadian troops fought to drive Taliban insurgents away.
Despite the progress, Hillier said Canadians are still needed in the area for security reasons and development projects.
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1RCR 1977-79 Depot (Italy PL), B Coy, Mortars, Pioneers, D Coy (CFB London)
3RCR 1979-82 M Coy, Pipes & Drums, Sigs, Mortars. (CFB Baden-Soellingen)
1RCR 1982-88 Mortars. Dukes, Cyprus-Welfare NCO 84-85, Injured, WO&Sgts Mess, (CFB London)
1988-92 Med-remuster to HELL/ 35 DU, CFB Baden
1992 Medical release. God Bless you all!
Pro Patria
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Mike Blais
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A ROYAL CANADIAN "NEVER PASSES A FAULT"
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Tom Clark's Afghanistan Blog
Updated Tue. Mar. 13 2007 3:50 PM ET
Tom Clark, CTV News
Tuesday March 13: It's been 30 days and nights and it's time for me to leave Afghanistan. There is much envy among my colleagues, and a certain wistfulness among some of the soldiers who won't even be thinking of going home for another few months.
But leaving here is a funny thing. It's not as simple as you might imagine. I don't mean the actual mechanics of leaving -- I'll be going out in the same patched up, slightly eccentric, Russian cargo plane that brought me in. I mean more the emotion of leaving.
Everyone who comes here, in whatever job or capacity, gets deeply drawn in. This is a difficult, complex, and utterly fascinating place. I've not met anyone who is ho-hum about it.
The Canadian soldiers who have been here, are here, and who are coming here, will be changed. Out in the field, they interact with the local population a great deal. Many have picked up words and expressions in Pashtou, the local language, and most have had an up close look at a culture they probably never even thought about just a few years back. And they have done extremely well with it. I think there's something about Canadians, and especially something about the Canadian military, that makes us a bit more open, a bit more curious about things and people, and it shows over here.
And speaking of our military, I can't think of another group that has so impressed me so consistently. My God, we've got some fine intelligent people in uniform.
I suspect when I return I will be asked what I think of the mission here, whether it's the right one, and if it can succeed. My answer, just so you know in advance, will be to pass on what Afghans have said to me when I've asked them that same series of questions, because I figure they have a bigger stake in the answer than I do.
In short, the consensus is yes it can work, if by that you mean giving the country a chance to succeed without the terror of the Taliban hanging over their future. It's not there yet, but the combination of security provided by NATO and development provided by people and governments, is having a positive effect. And of course an Afghanistan free of terror can only be a good thing for the rest of the world.
But back to the difficulty of leaving such a place, and why so many civilians and soldiers are ready to come back. Life here is played out in primary colours. Everything matters, and everything is in sharp focus. There is a raw clarity to basic things, and so much here is basic.
From here, the world back home can seem grey and indecisive, a "on the one hand on the other" sort of place. It may be more comfortable, but it can't be more intriguing.
So, with some regret, I'm leaving. I thank all who have written to me, especially the many mothers of soldiers serving here, both Canadian and American. I can tell you, your kids are alright and should make you proud.
Now to Dubai, and the promise of a glass of something red and a real bed with a 420 thread count sheet.
Sunday March 11: I took last night off from this space, because I got my snout into some beer. Two beers to be precise, but after a month of enforced abstinence, they tasted awfully good and didn't encourage good work habits.
Let me quickly point out that the beers were officially legal last night by order of the very people who make it officially illegal all other nights. The Canadian military in Kandahar is dry, and as I am embedded with them, I get to share this peculiar lifestyle.
But last night, General Timothy Grant let 'er rip, and threw a barbecue for his headquarters staff (and nine grateful but grubby reporters) that included two beers per person. I believe food was involved too.
The NATO base is in many ways a model of propriety gone a little strange. There's no drinking allowed, no fraternization permitted, even among married couples, for heaven's sake, but here's the twist: everyone is armed to the teeth. It's like living with a morally upstanding street gang.
It's a city of more than ten thousand, without any discernable crime rate, poverty, or even grumpiness. Most people here are relentlessly polite, which may just be a logical reaction to everybody carrying a gun, but I think most of them mean it anyway.
Demographically, this is how a city should be; lots and lots of young people to cater to a very small number of older people. And just when you might be getting tired of seeing the same old faces, the entire population changes just like that, replaced by a new crop of non drinking, non fraternizing, polite, gun toting, smiling faces.
Having two beers in the midst of this does in fact seem a bit out of place.
Maybe three might be better.
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1RCR 1977-79 Depot (Italy PL), B Coy, Mortars, Pioneers, D Coy (CFB London)
3RCR 1979-82 M Coy, Pipes & Drums, Sigs, Mortars. (CFB Baden-Soellingen)
1RCR 1982-88 Mortars. Dukes, Cyprus-Welfare NCO 84-85, Injured, WO&Sgts Mess, (CFB London)
1988-92 Med-remuster to HELL/ 35 DU, CFB Baden
1992 Medical release. God Bless you all!
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ranrad
Ron [Andy] Andrews
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Good report Mike. I have enjoyed his blogs ansthink they have gone a long way to helping all Canadians understand things over there and all the good they are doing. The next one has big boots to fill, great job Tom, you done real good, ranrad
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RCAF,CAF, converted RCR?,1RCR 74-77 CD: SSM (Nato);CPSM,;UN-Cyp.; UN- Golan
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Mike Blais
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Taliban fleeing NATO forces, more offensives coming, top U.S. general says
Jason Straziuso
Associated Press
Friday, March 16, 2007
FORWARD OPERATING BASE DIABLO, Afghanistan — The top NATO general in Afghanistan said Friday the alliance’s latest offensive is the first of a “rolling series” of operations against Taliban insurgents, some of whom have been fleeing western forces in the south.
U.S. Gen. Dan McNeill, commander of the 36,000-strong NATO-led force in Afghanistan, said western troops were exchanging fire with Taliban fighters “in a number of areas” in southern Afghanistan but that many militants were fleeing the 5,500 NATO and Afghan soldiers participating in Operation Achilles.
“We’re working hard to get a beat on them, where they’re going, because we’re not going to let up,” McNeill said during a one-hour visit to this isolated U.S. outpost in the northwest corner of Kandahar province.
“I expect we’ll have a rolling series of exercises just like this one, operations that run through the spring and summer. I expect for us to continue attacking these insurgents.”
Some 200 Canadian troops, with tanks and armoured vehicles, are part of Operation Achilles. They are deployed in the northwest region of Kandahar province to block and disrupt escape or resupply routes for insurgents in neighbouring Helmand province, the focus of the operation.
Meanwhile, five Afghan police manning a checkpoint in Gereshk district of neighbouring Helmand province died in a clash. There were conflicting accounts of who shot them.
“Coalition forces mistakenly opened fire on police,” Interior Ministry spokesman Zemeri Bashary said. “Unfortunately five policemen were killed.”
The claim was denied by the coalition.
“It appears at this moment that there was no U.S. involvement in the Gereshk incident,” said Sgt. Dean Welch, a coalition spokesman, adding that the military’s investigation was not yet complete. Lt.-Col. Angela Billings, a spokeswoman for NATO’s International Security Assistance Force in Kabul, said the force’s troops were not involved in the clash.
A senior U.S. military official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the subject, said that clash was between members of the Afghan National Army and auxiliary police.
The police at the checkpoint opened fired on a passing army convoy, which set off the exchange in which five policemen were killed, the official said. He claimed that there was “strong evidence” to suggest the police were colluding with Taliban.
U.S. military trainers were at the back of the Afghan army convoy but not involved in the fire fight, he said.
Lt.-Gen. Sher Mohammad Karimi, the Afghan National Army’s chief of operations, said the initial report suggested that Afghan troops were not involved in the incident.
“We have asked for further explanation,” Karimi said.
Helmand is the centre of the Taliban-led insurgency, and also the hub of the country’s world-leading opium and heroin trade that is believed to help fund the Taliban but also profits Afghan officials.
McNeill said the vice-chief of staff of the Pakistani army updated him last week on what the Pakistan army is doing to control the border area, where the Taliban train and resupply and cross into Afghanistan. The Pakistani official said locals were becoming intolerant of foreigners and had recently killed 14 Chechens and Uzbeks, McNeill said.
McNeill said he had “heard talk” and “read in newspapers” reports of al-Qaida and Taliban training camps in Pakistan’s border region, but said “I don’t have any first-hand knowledge.” He noted that Pakistan had arrested “significant” al-Qaida and Taliban leadership since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
“I think that those who are derisive of what the Pakistanis are doing need to look at what they have done and there’s no question that in my view they are doing a lot now,” McNeill said.
About 47,000 western forces are deployed in Afghanistan. NATO leads 36,000 troops, and the U.S.-led coalition maintains a 11,000-strong force engaged in independent operations throughout the country.
Canada has about 2,500 troops operating in Kandahar province as part of the NATO force.
© Associated Press 2007
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1RCR 1977-79 Depot (Italy PL), B Coy, Mortars, Pioneers, D Coy (CFB London)
3RCR 1979-82 M Coy, Pipes & Drums, Sigs, Mortars. (CFB Baden-Soellingen)
1RCR 1982-88 Mortars. Dukes, Cyprus-Welfare NCO 84-85, Injured, WO&Sgts Mess, (CFB London)
1988-92 Med-remuster to HELL/ 35 DU, CFB Baden
1992 Medical release. God Bless you all!
Pro Patria
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Mike Blais
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A ROYAL CANADIAN "NEVER PASSES A FAULT"
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Child killed in suicide attack on troops TheStar.com - News - Child killed in suicide attack on troops
No soldiers hurt as armoured vehicle rammed
March 17, 2007
Associated Press
KANDAHAR – A suicide bomber targeting a Canadian military convoy killed a child and wounded two other people Saturday in southern Afghanistan, police said. No Canadian soldiers were hurt.
The bomber rammed his explosives-packed vehicle into the passing convoy on the main highway linking the southern city of Kandahar with Herat in the west, said Ghulam Azrat, a regional police officer.
A child on the side of the road was killed in the blast, Azrat said. Another child and a man, members of the same family, were injured.
A Canadian military vehicle sustained minor damage, but no one was hurt, he said.
Meanwhile, a mortar attack on NATO's largest base in southern Afghanistan on Friday left three soldiers wounded, said Lt. Col. Angela Billings, an alliance spokeswoman.
The attack occurred in a vast military base and airport on the outskirts of Kandahar, she said. Billings did not identify the wounded soldiers, but said they suffered minor injuries.
Some 36,000 troops currently serve in NATO's International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.
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1RCR 1977-79 Depot (Italy PL), B Coy, Mortars, Pioneers, D Coy (CFB London)
3RCR 1979-82 M Coy, Pipes & Drums, Sigs, Mortars. (CFB Baden-Soellingen)
1RCR 1982-88 Mortars. Dukes, Cyprus-Welfare NCO 84-85, Injured, WO&Sgts Mess, (CFB London)
1988-92 Med-remuster to HELL/ 35 DU, CFB Baden
1992 Medical release. God Bless you all!
Pro Patria
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A ROYAL CANADIAN "NEVER PASSES A FAULT"
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Afghan suicide attack on Cdn. convoy injures one
Updated Sat. Mar. 17 2007 9:25 AM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
A Canadian soldier was wounded in Afghanistan Saturday when a suicide bomber drove his vehicle into a convoy, killing a child and wounding three others, a Canadian military official said.
The attack happened in southern Afghanistan about 25 kilometres west of Kandahar.
The soldier's injuries were minor, Lieut. John Nethercott of the Canadian navy told The Canadian Press.
However, he said the three other injured people, including two other children, were seriously injured.
The soldier is a member of the 2nd Battalion Royal Canadian Regiment. However, his name and hometown have not been released, pending notification of his family.
He was travelling on a highway in a Bison armoured vehicle when the attack occurred, CP reports. The vehicle sustained minor damage.
The attacker was also in a vehicle, which he rammed into the convoy, according to Afghan officials.
"I think this is just another example of the way that they're using these tactics to not much success,'' Nethercott said.
"They're only injuring innocent Afghan civilians.''
An earlier Friday attack on NATO's Kandahar air base left three soldiers wounded, said alliance spokesperson Lt. Col. Angela Billings.
The soldiers, who were not identified, suffered only minor injuries, Billings said.
Some 36,000 troops currently serve in NATO's International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.
Canada has 2,500 hundred troops in the Kandahar region.
With files from The Canadian Press
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1RCR 1977-79 Depot (Italy PL), B Coy, Mortars, Pioneers, D Coy (CFB London)
3RCR 1979-82 M Coy, Pipes & Drums, Sigs, Mortars. (CFB Baden-Soellingen)
1RCR 1982-88 Mortars. Dukes, Cyprus-Welfare NCO 84-85, Injured, WO&Sgts Mess, (CFB London)
1988-92 Med-remuster to HELL/ 35 DU, CFB Baden
1992 Medical release. God Bless you all!
Pro Patria
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Mike Blais
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