Col Geoff Parker killed in VBIED attack Kabul, 18 May 10

[jollyjacktar]

Shared with the usual disclaimers.  It guts me to see this.  Deepest condolences to all the familes, comrades of the fallen.  Speedy recovery to the wounded. 

Canadian Forces member killed in Kabul bombing
NATO service members, Afghan civilians also die in attack
Last Updated: Tuesday, May 18, 2010 | 8:48 AM ET Comments17Recommend11CBC News
An Afghan policeman keeps watch at the site of a suicide car bomb attack in Kabul on Tuesday. (Ahmad Masood/Reuters)
Six NATO service members, including one Canadian, were among the 18 people killed Tuesday in a suicide car bombing in Kabul, officials say.

A public affairs officer confirmed that one Canadian Forces member was killed.

U.S. forces spokesman Col. Wayne Shanks earlier confirmed that five of the dead were American.

"I strongly condemn the suicide attack today in Kabul, which has led to the death of Afghan civilians and ISAF soldiers, and injuries to many more Afghans," NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in a statement.

The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the blasts, which happened in a west Kabul neighbourhood near an army recruitment centre and many government buildings.

At least 12 Afghan civilians were killed and 47 people were injured in the attack, which struck NATO vehicles, a bus and a number of private cars.

"It was morning rush hour, the street packed with traffic, the sidewalk crowded with pedestrians," journalist Tom Popyk said, noting that American troops moved into the area after the blast to assist with rescue efforts.

NATO convoy target: Taliban
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid told The Associated Press in a phone call from an undisclosed location that the bomber was a man from Kabul and his car was packed with 750 kilograms of explosives. The target of the attack was the foreign convoy, he said.

President Hamid Karzai condemned the attack, saying women and children were among the victims.

It's the first major attack on Kabul since February, when suicide bombers struck two hotels, killing more than a dozen people.



Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/05/18/kabul-afghan-blast.html#ixzz0oHkbTazf

 

[tomahawk6]

My condolences.

 

[krustyrl]

Sadly,  this happened again.  RIP to the fallen, your duty is done.  Condolences to the family at this time.
I will yet again pay my repects along RCAF Rd  on the Highway of Heroes. 

 

[kkramar]

Sad news, but we owe a lot to the brave soldier.   

 

[TFLY]

The Highway of Heros...indeed.  Here is the song posted on a few threads here.  Be prepared to cry...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrkgV5bl7kQ&playnext_from=TL&videos=9iQb6Kx5EYA

Sending love and condolences to the family, Friends, team mates and all of you reading this! 

:yellow: :yellow: :yellow: :yellow: :yellow: :yellow: :yellow: :yellow: :yellow: :yellow: :yellow: :yellow: :yellow:

 

[The Bread Guy]

Condolences to the family, colleagues and friends of the latest fallen 

 

[mariomike]

My sincere condolences.

 

[tech2002]

RIP 

 

[ModlrMike]

RIP  :yellow:

 

[gaspasser]

My Sincere condolances to the Family, Friends and Unit of this yet to be named Soldier.   
Your Sacrifice will not be Forgotten  :yellow:

 

[The Bread Guy]

This from the Canadian PRess:

A Taliban suicide bomber in a car packed with explosives struck a NATO convoy in Kabul on Tuesday, killing a member of the Canadian Forces and five American troops, officials said.

Twelve Afghan civilians also died, many of them on a public bus in rush-hour traffic.

The powerful blast occurred on a major Kabul thoroughfare that runs by the ruins of a one-time royal palace and government ministries. It wrecked nearly 20 vehicles, including five SUVs in the NATO convoy, and scattered debris and body parts across the wide boulevard. The body of woman in a burqa was smashed against the window of the bus.

The attack — the deadliest for NATO troops in the capital since September — comes despite a ramped up effort by Afghan authorities to intercept would-be attackers and better secure a capital city that saw a spate of brazen attacks this winter.

In the last such attack in February, suicide bombers stormed two small downtown hotels and killed 16 people.

The Canadian Forces confirmed one of its members was killed in the latest suicide blast in Kabul.

Speaking at Kandahar Airfield, where most Canadian troops are based, Maj. Daryl Morrell said the military was still in the process of notifying next of kin. The person's identity and rank would not be released until the notification process is complete.

The person was the seventh Canadian soldier killed in Afghanistan this year and the 145th member of the military to die since the mission began in 2002 ....  Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid told The Associated Press in a phone call from an undisclosed location that the bomber was a man from Kabul and his car was packed with 750 kilograms of explosives. The target of the attack was the foreign convoy, he said ....

More from the Associated Press, BBC, AFP and CNN.

 

[vonGarvin]

Oh Crap.
A very good friend of mine just got to Kabul about 7 weeks ago.


speechless.


(I'm in London, UK right now, and I have just seen this on here.)  If the names get posted, PLEASE send me a PM straight away.

Thanks


Techno

 

[Edward Campbell]

This from the CBC:

"A Canadian colonel — the highest-ranking Canadian Forces member to die in Afghanistan — was among 18 people killed Tuesday in a suicide car bombing in Kabul.

The dead Canadian was identified as Col. Geoff Parker, 42, of the Royal Canadian Regiment.

Parker was born and raised in Oakville, Ont. A 1990 graduate of the University of Western Ontario, Parker was married with two young sons, according to his military biography.

U.S. forces spokesman Col. Wayne Shanks earlier confirmed that five of the dead were American."



Edit: typo

 

[paffomaybe]

RIP Sir. 

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=3041858

KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan - A soldier killed in a suicide bombing in Kabul on Tuesday is the highest ranking Canadian to die in Afghanistan since Ottawa first committed troops in 2002.

Col. Jeff Parker of the Royal Canadian Regiment was traveling in a convoy of three SUVs with U.S. troops when a suicide bomber driving a mini-van with nearly a ton of explosives packed inside swerved into them. Five American soldiers also died in the attack that killed the 42-year-old infantry officer, who was on a "recce" visit to Kabul before taking up an assignment there.

Col. Parker was from Oakville, Ont.

At least 12 Afghan civilians were also killed in the same suicide attack, which occurred a few hundred metres from Canada's old base on the outskirts of the city. The area, which Canadian troops left four years ago, when Ottawa switched its focus to Kandahar, is home to several Afghan army units and a U.S. training facility.

The Taliban have claimed credit for the attack, which was the deadliest in some time in the Afghan capital since September 2009, when six Italian soldiers were killed by a car bomb.

The Taliban spokesman told Reuters the Islamists had used a van packed with 750 kilograms of explosives.

Several hundred Canadian soldiers serve in Kabul, mostly in staff jobs with the various NATO commands in the city.

The bombing by a driver at the wheel of a minivan comes as NATO forces begin shaping operations for a major summer offensive in the southern province of Kandahar. That operation is expected to involve several thousand Canadian troops.

The latest fatality brings to 145 the number of Canadians soldiers who have died in Afghanistan since 2002.

"This will not deter us from our mission of securing a better future for this country," NATO spokesman Brig.-Gen. Josef Blotz said in a statement.

The interior ministry said 47 civilians were wounded. Most of the casualties were people waiting for a bus on the busy road near an army base, a government ministry and the parliament.

Kabul's Estiqlal hospital was overwhelmed with wounded people, including children, with their heads, legs and hands covered in blood. Some moaned in pain.

"The blast knocked me down, although I wasn't very near the explosion but I saw a van exploded and there was blood and bodies everywhere," said a teenager named Mustafa, whose head was wrapped in a blood-stained bandage.

Police cordoned off the road near Darulaman palace, a derelict building that once housed Afghanistan's royal family, state television showed.

Afghan troops were collecting evidence and debris from the blast site.

Another survivor, government worker Noor Mohammad, was waiting for a bus when the bomber detonated his vehicle.

"A van driving very fast approached the convoy of foreigners and a huge blast went off . . . I didn't know I was hurt, the explosion deafened my ears and I had a blackout," Mohammad, who suffered shrapnel wounds to his legs, said from his hospital bed.

President Hamid Karzai was holding a news conference at the time of the blast, following a trip to Washington where he met U.S. President Barack Obama to discuss strained ties between the two countries amid a rising insurgency and civilian casualties.

"I condemn this attack on strongest terms and hope that Afghanistan one day gets rid of this," Mr. Karzai said.

In the southeast, Afghan police shot dead a would-be suicide bomber who tried to attack a government building in Paktia province close to the Pakistani border, police said.

The bomber's explosives were detonated by the shooting, killing one policeman and wounding another.

Read more: http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=3041858#ixzz0oIdEUhmy

 

[The Bread Guy]

.... which has an embed at KAF:

Canada suffered its highest-ranking casualty of the war in Afghanistan in Tuesday’s massive morning suicide attack in Kabul, the military has confirmed.

Col. Geoff Parker, 42, born and raised in Oakville, Ont., was among at least 18 people killed, including five U.S. soldiers, when a Taliban suicide car bomb targeted a NATO convoy in Kabul during the morning rush-hour.

Another 47 others were injured, many of them Afghan civilians on a public bus, as the powerful blast erupted on the Darulaman Road, a major thoroughfare. Rescue teams sifted through nearly 20 wrecked vehicles in search of survivors.

The vast majority of Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan are deployed in Kandahar, but a small contingent is based in Kabul in a variety of capacities supporting the NATO mission.

Canada’s International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda, speaking to the Toronto Star during her fourth visit to Kandahar Tuesday, expressed condolences for the lives lost in Kabul.

“It’s always unfortunate when these situations happen. It’s a sacrifice the world is willing to make for the people of Afghanistan.” ....

More here.

- edited to add photo -

 

[Edward Campbell]

LCol Geoff Parker:

 

[Old Sweat]

Oh Crap.
A very good friend of mine just got to Kabul about 7 weeks ago.


speechless.


(I'm in London, UK right now, and I have just seen this on here.)  If the names get posted, PLEASE send me a PM straight away.

Thanks


Techno

Has anyone done this?

 

[armyvern]

Has anyone done this?

I did.

Vern

 

[TFLY]

LCol Geoff Parker:

So did I.  :yellow:

TFLY

 

[The Bread Guy]

One Canadian Forces member killed by suicide bomber
CEFCOM NR – 10.009 - May 18, 2010
News release link

OTTAWA — One Canadian Forces member travelling in a NATO convoy was killed after an insurgent detonated a vehicle borne improvised explosive device between the convoy of vehicles in Kabul at approximately 8 a.m. local Afghanistan time on 18 May 2010.

Killed in action was Colonel Geoff Parker from the Royal Canadian Regiment, working at Land Force Central Area Headquarters. At the time of his death, Colonel Parker was in Kabul as part of a NATO team preparing for their upcoming mission.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of our fallen Canadian comrade during this sad time. The commitment and sacrifice of our soldiers and their loved ones are helping to make a difference in the lives of the people of Kandahar Province.

Together, Afghan National Security Forces and Joint Task Force Afghanistan continue to maintain the initiative in Kandahar Province. Canada in partnership with the Afghan government and ISAF remain committed to improving the security situation in order to set the conditions for reconstruction and development in the region.

–30–

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