BREAKING NEWS - Canadian / American Convoy Attacked in Afghanistan

[muffin]

Canadian-American convoy attacked in Afghanistan

Updated Thu. Feb. 9 2006 1:44 PM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

Troops travelling with a joint Canadian-American convoy suffered minor injuries after being attacked northeast of Kandahar on Thursday.

The Canadians, who were travelling in heavily armoured vehicles, were shaken up but only lightly injured, CTV's Matt McClure reported from Kandahar.

"In fact, they're going to continue on their mission up in this region. I guess it's a small taste of what Canadians may have to expect in the weeks and months to come," McClure said.

McClure reports that the troops were on a mission to familiarize themselves with the mountainous no-man's land that is frequented by the remnants of the Taliban regime.

"There are mountains on both sides which makes it an ideal place for them to hide," McClure said.

Canadian soldiers who will join the Task Force Afghanistan campaign in the Kandahar region have already begun to be deployed.

By early March, approximately 2,200 Canadian soldiers will be in Afghanistan as Canada assumes the lead of the Multinational Brigade in Regional Command South under the American-led Operation Enduring Freedom.

The general who will command the troops in Kandahar upped the battle rhetoric ahead of the mission, asserting that Canadian soldiers are not only to kill but to die in Afghanistan to prevent the nation from becoming a safe harbour for terrorists.

"This is a dangerous mission. This is a dangerous environment," Brigadier-General David Fraser said at a media briefing in early February. "And I cannot reduce the risk to zero."

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060209/afghan_attack_060209/20060209?hub=TopStories

 

[big bad john]

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060209/afghan_attack_060209/20060209?hub=TopStories

3 Canadian soldiers slightly hurt in Afghanistan
Updated Thu. Feb. 9 2006 2:08 PM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

Three Canadian soldiers suffered minor injuries after they were attacked while travelling northeast of Kandahar with a joint Canadian-American convoy.

The Canadians, who were travelling in heavily armoured vehicles when a roadside bomb went off, were shaken up but only lightly injured, CTV's Matt McClure reported from Kandahar.

"In fact, they're going to continue on their mission up in this region. I guess it's a small taste of what Canadians may have to expect in the weeks and months to come," McClure said.

McClure reports that the troops were on a mission to familiarize themselves with the mountainous no-man's land that is frequented by the remnants of the Taliban regime.

"There are mountains on both sides which makes it an ideal place for them to hide," McClure said.

Canadian soldiers who will join the Task Force Afghanistan campaign in the Kandahar region have already begun to be deployed.

By early March, approximately 2,200 Canadian soldiers will be in Afghanistan as Canada assumes the lead of the Multinational Brigade in Regional Command South under the American-led Operation Enduring Freedom.

The general who will command the troops in Kandahar upped the battle rhetoric ahead of the mission, asserting that Canadian soldiers are not only to kill but to die in Afghanistan to prevent the nation from becoming a safe harbour for terrorists.

"This is a dangerous mission. This is a dangerous environment," Brigadier-General David Fraser said at a media briefing in early February. "And I cannot reduce the risk to zero."

 

[sneak and peek soldier]

Anybody know what kind of "heavily armoured" vehicle it was that was damaged in the attack?

 

[TangoTwoBravo]

Those kinds of details will come out over time.  For now, let's just be thankful that the injuries were relatively minor.

Cheers,

2B

 

[Fabius]

CBC is reporting that it was a LavIII that was caught in the blast, only slight damage.Here's to the four wounded troops godspeed and good luck

 

[J.J]

According to CBC a 3 were slightly injured in a LAV-III and according to CP there were 4 slightly injured in a LAV-III....so like 2 Bravo said, let's wait for the official word

 

[sneak and peek soldier]

Definitley agreed that we should wait, I'm just thankful that the wounds were minor and i hope the soldiers are back in the fight 

 

[big bad john]

http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=bd4a14bd-74a9-4262-9061-6879a970a093&k=90993

Canadians suffer minor wounds in Afghanistan
Four Canadian troops slightly wounded in roadside bombing in Afghanistan   
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Taliban forces targeted a Canadian LAV III armoured troop carriers similar to this one with a rooadside bomb in the mountains outside of Kandahar earlier on Thursday.
Photograph by : CANWEST NEWS SERVICE
    By Stephen Thorne, Canadian Press
Published: February 9, 2006 Article tools
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  Font: * * * * OTTAWA -- Four Canadian soldiers escaped with bumps, bruises and a concussion after a roadside bomb exploded next to their light armoured vehicle in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, part of an escalating campaign by insurgents resisting U.S.- and NATO-led forces.

The unidentified soldiers were riding in a 21-tonne LAV-3 armoured vehicle when the explosion occurred 50 kilometres north of Kandahar. They did not require hospitalization, said a Canadian military spokesman.

The attack came less than a month after a Canadian diplomat was killed and three soldiers seriously wounded by a suicide bomber in Kandahar.

The troops wounded in the Thursday evening attack are part of a 2,200-member Canadian force known as Task Force Orion that is gearing up to take over patrols in the volatile, ultra-conservative region.

It is an area that sheltered and trained al-Qaida terrorists and gave birth to the Taliban and its extreme form of Islamic rule.

The Canadians were on a joint patrol with U.S. forces and were treated at the scene, three kilometres south of a village called Gumbad. The four were spending the night at a secure platoon house in the area permanently manned by coalition troops. Their vehicle was only slightly damaged.

Earlier in the same patrol, another LAV-3 tipped on its side. No one was injured in the accident, and the vehicle was immediately righted and returned to duty.

The 7:28 p.m. attack involved a so-called improvised explosive device, or IED, similar to that which wounded two Canadian soldiers in September.

Such bombs, usually triggered by a cellphone or some other remote method, can be hidden in everything from garbage to vehicles and even roadkill. A similar device wounded U.S. television journalist Bob Woodruff and his Canadian cameraman Doug Vogt last month in Iraq.

While a spate of suicide bombings have grabbed headlines in Afghanistan in recent months, soldiers are most wary of these explosive devices. More liberal rules of engagement may allow NATO troops to fire on suspect vehicles and other attackers in Afghanistan, but the IED can be an invisible weapon.

More than a third of the 62 U.S. military deaths in Iraq in last month were because of IEDs. A website that tracks coalition deaths in Iraq (icasualties.org), says at least 695 U.S. military personnel have been killed by IED attacks since the war started in March 2003, making them the leading cause of death.

Their powerful blasts propel shock waves and shrapnel that can kill or maim soldiers equipped with the best body armour.

Some insurgents have moved from Iraq to Afghanistan, bringing with them refined techniques for constructing, concealing and detonating the devices. U.S. soldiers in Iraq have found IEDs buried in the soil, concealed in piles of garbage, stuffed in soft-drink cans and even in the carcasses of dead animals.

Canadian troops in Kandahar recently found a car stuffed with wired explosives sitting alongside a well-travelled road. Last year, Canadians found a vendor's cart laden with explosives set to go off in a busy Kabul market. The devices could have been planted by Taliban, al-Qaida or allied groups.

Soldiers are trained in spotting telltale signs of IEDs such as loose detonator wires and disturbed earth.

Radio-detonators used to trigger some blasts can be jammed, so in Iraq insurgents have begun using a device triggered when a vehicle crosses an infrared beam. The technology was first used in Lebanon and Northern Ireland.

Many roadside bombs are little more than an artillery shell with a detonator cord linked to a battery, but some have been found with a steel plate underneath to direct the force of the blast up into a passing vehicle. Others have been rigged to fire a solid steel penetrator that can pierce armour.

The weapons are invaluable to al-Qaida and Taliban fighters, who are usually outnumbered and outgunned in head-to-head confrontations.

Fighting normally eases during the Afghan winter but military brass believe the recent attacks point to a possible new strategy by pro-Taliban forces in Afghanistan, many of whom are believed to be working out of the mountainous frontier regions across the Pakistan border.

Violence across southern and eastern Afghanistan spiked last year, killing about 1,600 people, the most since U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliban in 2001 for sheltering Osama bin Laden.

© The Canadian Press 2006