Sgt.'s Miok & Taylor, Cpl. McCormack, Pte. Chidley and Michelle Lang-Dec 30/09
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4 Canadian Soldiers and one journalist have been killed in Afghanistan today - 30 Dec 2009. My condolances to their families, friends and fellow soldiers; hoping for speedy & full recoveries for all the injured. My condolances to the family & friends of the journalist as well.
4 Canadians killed / 4 injured
4 Canadians killed / 4 injured
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5 Canadians killed in Afghanistan
Last Updated: Wednesday, December 30, 2009 | 6:53 PM ET
CBC News
Five Canadians were killed in Afghanistan on Wednesday, including four soldiers, and a journalist.
Brig.-Gen. Daniel Ménard said one Canadian civilian was wounded in the attack.
The journalist was identified as Michelle Lang, who worked for the Calgary Herald.
Lang, who was in her early 30s, grew up in Vancouver and was a well-respected health reporter for the Herald, winning a National Newspaper Award in 2008 for best beat reporting. She has also worked in Regina and Moose Jaw.
Friends describe Lang, who was engaged, as bright with a sharp tongue and quick wit.
"She came across as sweet and quiet -- but could bring a room down with laughter with one observation," one friend said. "She was a fabulous friend: kind, loyal, thoughtful. No number of adjectives can describe her talent, her charm, or the hole she leaves in the lives of those close to her."
The death of the five Canadians comes a week after Lt. Andrew Nuttall was killed by an explosive near the village of Nakhonay in Panjwaii District, about 25 kilometres southwest of Kandahar city.
It was the worst single day for Canadian casualties in Afghanistan since six soldiers were killed on July 4, 2007, when their large armoured vehicle struck a roadside bomb on a well-used road in the Panjwaii district, about 20 kilometres southwest of the city of Kandahar.
Since 2002, 138 Canadian soldiers have been killed serving in Afghanistan.
Today's casualities bring the number of Canadian civilians killed in Afghanistan to four. The reporter is the first Canadian journalist to be killed while covering the conflict in Afghanistan. Seven journalists from other countries have also died.
The attack happened the same day eight Americans were killed in an attack on a military base in the eastern province of Khost.
More to come
With files from The Associated Press
Last Updated: Wednesday, December 30, 2009 | 6:53 PM ET
CBC News
Five Canadians were killed in Afghanistan on Wednesday, including four soldiers, and a journalist.
Brig.-Gen. Daniel Ménard said one Canadian civilian was wounded in the attack.
The journalist was identified as Michelle Lang, who worked for the Calgary Herald.
Lang, who was in her early 30s, grew up in Vancouver and was a well-respected health reporter for the Herald, winning a National Newspaper Award in 2008 for best beat reporting. She has also worked in Regina and Moose Jaw.
Friends describe Lang, who was engaged, as bright with a sharp tongue and quick wit.
"She came across as sweet and quiet -- but could bring a room down with laughter with one observation," one friend said. "She was a fabulous friend: kind, loyal, thoughtful. No number of adjectives can describe her talent, her charm, or the hole she leaves in the lives of those close to her."
The death of the five Canadians comes a week after Lt. Andrew Nuttall was killed by an explosive near the village of Nakhonay in Panjwaii District, about 25 kilometres southwest of Kandahar city.
It was the worst single day for Canadian casualties in Afghanistan since six soldiers were killed on July 4, 2007, when their large armoured vehicle struck a roadside bomb on a well-used road in the Panjwaii district, about 20 kilometres southwest of the city of Kandahar.
Since 2002, 138 Canadian soldiers have been killed serving in Afghanistan.
Today's casualities bring the number of Canadian civilians killed in Afghanistan to four. The reporter is the first Canadian journalist to be killed while covering the conflict in Afghanistan. Seven journalists from other countries have also died.
The attack happened the same day eight Americans were killed in an attack on a military base in the eastern province of Khost.
More to come
With files from The Associated Press
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http://www.forces.gc.ca/site/news-nouvelles/view-news-afficher-nouvelles-eng.asp?id=3236
RIP all - condolences to the families, colleagues and friends of the fallen....
RIP all - condolences to the families, colleagues and friends of the fallen....
OldSolduer
Army.ca Relic
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Damn...this sucks. I have friends over there all over the BG and the PRTs.
I saw it on Global and the tears started.....
RIP troops.
RIP Michelle Lang
I saw it on Global and the tears started.....
RIP troops.
RIP Michelle Lang
- Reaction score
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Canwest journalist, 4 soldiers die in Afghan blast
Canwest News ServiceDecember 30, 2009 5:05 PM
Calgary Herald reporter Michelle Lang, seen in this 2008 file photo, was killed by an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan Dec. 30, 2009, while covering the war for the Canwest News Service. Four Canadian soldiers also died in the blast.
Photograph by: Ted Jacob, Calgary Herald
A Canadian journalist and four Canadian soldiers died in Afghanistan on Wednesday in the blast of an improvised explosive device.
Calgary Herald reporter Michelle Lang, 34, was on secondment to Canwest News Service and was travelling with a provincial reconstruction team in Kandahar City when the attack on their vehicle occurred.
"On behalf of all the soldiers, airmen, sailors and special operators of Joint Task Force Afghanistan, I offer our sincere condolences to the families and friends of our fallen," said Brigadier-General Daniel Menard, Commander of Task Force Kandahar.
The Department of National Defence has not yet released the names of the four soldiers killed in Wednesday's explosion, but their deaths bring the toll of Canadian soldiers to 138 since the mission there began in 2002.
Details of the attack have not been released.
It was Lang's first stint in Afghanistan. She arrived in the country on Dec. 11 and was due to return to Calgary on Jan. 22.
Provincial reconstruction team — or PRTs — are groups of civilians, government specialists and others who venture into the countryside with military escorts as they attempt to rebuild roads, dams, schools, hospitals and other elements of Afghanistan's battered physical, social, medical and political infrastructure.
"We are all devastated by the loss of Michelle and our thoughts right now are with her family and her fiance," said Scott Anderson, editor-in-chief of Canwest News Service. "Journalists need to — and do — put themselves at risk every day to report first-hand on important stories like Afghanistan. But that doesn't make this any easier.'
Wednesday was an especially bloody day in Afghanistan. In addition to the attack on the Canadians, eight American civilian workers died in a suicide bomb attack on a U.S. military base close to the border with Pakistan, officials said.
Lang was an experienced reporter and talented writer who had received a National Newspaper Award last May for her coverage of health care and medicine.
Shortly before Christmas, Lang blogged about the atmosphere at the base.
"I am currently at Kandahar Airfield, the sprawling military base near Kandahar City perhaps best known for its dusty conditions and a very busy Tim Hortons. At the moment, Afghanistan's winter rains have turned that famous dust into a giant mud pit," she wrote.
"Life here, though, has been made considerably brighter by Christmas decorations. Many soldiers have decorated their sleep tents with Christmas lights. One bike near the media work tent has a wreath attached to its handlebars."
At least 17 journalists from around the world have been killed in Afghanistan since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, according to statistics maintained by the Committee to Protect Journalists, an independent, non-profit organization.
Canadian journalists have had close calls in Afghanistan, but until Wednesday none had died.
In August 2007, Radio Canada reporters Patrice Roy and Charles Dubois were injured when the LAV III armoured vehicle they were in hit an IED during an operation against insurgents west of Kandahar City.
Two soldiers and an interpreter were killed. Dubois lost one leg below the knee.
On March 4, 2002, Toronto Star journalist Kathleen Kenna was in rural Afghanistan with her husband, Hadi Dadashian, and photographer Bernard Weil, when someone threw a hand grenade into their vehicle. Kenna was badly injured but survived.
In 2001, Montreal Gazette reporter Levon Sevunts was inside an armoured vehicle that came under attack by insurgents armed with rocket-propelled grenades and machine-guns. Three European journalists riding on top of the vehicle were killed.
In August 2008, National Post reporter Scott Deveau, who was covering the Afghanistan mission for Canwest News Service, was sitting in the back of an armoured vehicle with a Canadian Press reporter and a group of soldiers when their vehicle struck an IED.
One of the two soldiers in the front of the armoured personnel vehicle, usually used to transport troops, was seriously injured during the blast.
Other correspondents with Canwest or its predecessor, Southam News, have died on overseas assignment.
On April 14, 1987, Christoph Halens was found dead outside a hotel in Tripoli, Libya. Author Warren Kinsella, who probed the death in his book Unholy Alliances, believes Halens was pushed from the roof because he was getting too close to a story the Libyans didn't want written.
Halens was in North Africa to cover a Libya-funded peace conference which was attended by about 100 Canadians. The Libyans have long insisted Halens' death was suicide.
Pentagon spokeswoman Lt.-Col. Almarah Belk said Wednesday that the eight Americans died Wednesday when an attacker detonated a vest packed with explosives on Forward Operating Base Chapman in Khost province — a key Taliban stronghold.
Suicide attacks are a hallmark of the Taliban, who are waging a major insurgency to topple the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai and regain control of the central Asian state.
The number of foreign civilians under government contracts in Afghanistan is increasing, with the strategy to defeat the Taliban placing more emphasis on development and aid.
The U.S. said last month it had doubled the number of civilian experts working in Afghanistan and was "on track" to meet its goal of nearly 1,000 by the new year. Many are to work in provincial military bases alongside military reconstruction teams.
On Monday, a repatriation ceremony was held in CFB Trenton for the body of Lieutenant Andrew R. Nuttall of 1st Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, based in Edmonton.
He was on foot patrol and was killed by an IED near the village of Nakhonay in Panjwaii District, about 25 kilometres southwest of Kandahar City. The blast also killed a member of the Afghan National Army and injured an Afghan interpreter.
Other Canadians who have been killed in Afghanistan include government diplomat Glyn Berry and aide workers Jacqueline Kirk and Shirley Case, who were in Afghanistan with the International Rescue Committee.
Berry was killed in a suicide attack as he and a group of soldiers drove in Kandahar.
Kirk, 40, was a dual British-Canadian citizen from Outremont, Que. Case, 30, was from Williams Lake, B.C. They were in a car in Logar province when it was ambushed by small-arms fire.
With files from AFP
© Copyright (c) Canwest News Service
Canwest News ServiceDecember 30, 2009 5:05 PM
Calgary Herald reporter Michelle Lang, seen in this 2008 file photo, was killed by an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan Dec. 30, 2009, while covering the war for the Canwest News Service. Four Canadian soldiers also died in the blast.
Photograph by: Ted Jacob, Calgary Herald
A Canadian journalist and four Canadian soldiers died in Afghanistan on Wednesday in the blast of an improvised explosive device.
Calgary Herald reporter Michelle Lang, 34, was on secondment to Canwest News Service and was travelling with a provincial reconstruction team in Kandahar City when the attack on their vehicle occurred.
"On behalf of all the soldiers, airmen, sailors and special operators of Joint Task Force Afghanistan, I offer our sincere condolences to the families and friends of our fallen," said Brigadier-General Daniel Menard, Commander of Task Force Kandahar.
The Department of National Defence has not yet released the names of the four soldiers killed in Wednesday's explosion, but their deaths bring the toll of Canadian soldiers to 138 since the mission there began in 2002.
Details of the attack have not been released.
It was Lang's first stint in Afghanistan. She arrived in the country on Dec. 11 and was due to return to Calgary on Jan. 22.
Provincial reconstruction team — or PRTs — are groups of civilians, government specialists and others who venture into the countryside with military escorts as they attempt to rebuild roads, dams, schools, hospitals and other elements of Afghanistan's battered physical, social, medical and political infrastructure.
"We are all devastated by the loss of Michelle and our thoughts right now are with her family and her fiance," said Scott Anderson, editor-in-chief of Canwest News Service. "Journalists need to — and do — put themselves at risk every day to report first-hand on important stories like Afghanistan. But that doesn't make this any easier.'
Wednesday was an especially bloody day in Afghanistan. In addition to the attack on the Canadians, eight American civilian workers died in a suicide bomb attack on a U.S. military base close to the border with Pakistan, officials said.
Lang was an experienced reporter and talented writer who had received a National Newspaper Award last May for her coverage of health care and medicine.
Shortly before Christmas, Lang blogged about the atmosphere at the base.
"I am currently at Kandahar Airfield, the sprawling military base near Kandahar City perhaps best known for its dusty conditions and a very busy Tim Hortons. At the moment, Afghanistan's winter rains have turned that famous dust into a giant mud pit," she wrote.
"Life here, though, has been made considerably brighter by Christmas decorations. Many soldiers have decorated their sleep tents with Christmas lights. One bike near the media work tent has a wreath attached to its handlebars."
At least 17 journalists from around the world have been killed in Afghanistan since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, according to statistics maintained by the Committee to Protect Journalists, an independent, non-profit organization.
Canadian journalists have had close calls in Afghanistan, but until Wednesday none had died.
In August 2007, Radio Canada reporters Patrice Roy and Charles Dubois were injured when the LAV III armoured vehicle they were in hit an IED during an operation against insurgents west of Kandahar City.
Two soldiers and an interpreter were killed. Dubois lost one leg below the knee.
On March 4, 2002, Toronto Star journalist Kathleen Kenna was in rural Afghanistan with her husband, Hadi Dadashian, and photographer Bernard Weil, when someone threw a hand grenade into their vehicle. Kenna was badly injured but survived.
In 2001, Montreal Gazette reporter Levon Sevunts was inside an armoured vehicle that came under attack by insurgents armed with rocket-propelled grenades and machine-guns. Three European journalists riding on top of the vehicle were killed.
In August 2008, National Post reporter Scott Deveau, who was covering the Afghanistan mission for Canwest News Service, was sitting in the back of an armoured vehicle with a Canadian Press reporter and a group of soldiers when their vehicle struck an IED.
One of the two soldiers in the front of the armoured personnel vehicle, usually used to transport troops, was seriously injured during the blast.
Other correspondents with Canwest or its predecessor, Southam News, have died on overseas assignment.
On April 14, 1987, Christoph Halens was found dead outside a hotel in Tripoli, Libya. Author Warren Kinsella, who probed the death in his book Unholy Alliances, believes Halens was pushed from the roof because he was getting too close to a story the Libyans didn't want written.
Halens was in North Africa to cover a Libya-funded peace conference which was attended by about 100 Canadians. The Libyans have long insisted Halens' death was suicide.
Pentagon spokeswoman Lt.-Col. Almarah Belk said Wednesday that the eight Americans died Wednesday when an attacker detonated a vest packed with explosives on Forward Operating Base Chapman in Khost province — a key Taliban stronghold.
Suicide attacks are a hallmark of the Taliban, who are waging a major insurgency to topple the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai and regain control of the central Asian state.
The number of foreign civilians under government contracts in Afghanistan is increasing, with the strategy to defeat the Taliban placing more emphasis on development and aid.
The U.S. said last month it had doubled the number of civilian experts working in Afghanistan and was "on track" to meet its goal of nearly 1,000 by the new year. Many are to work in provincial military bases alongside military reconstruction teams.
On Monday, a repatriation ceremony was held in CFB Trenton for the body of Lieutenant Andrew R. Nuttall of 1st Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, based in Edmonton.
He was on foot patrol and was killed by an IED near the village of Nakhonay in Panjwaii District, about 25 kilometres southwest of Kandahar City. The blast also killed a member of the Afghan National Army and injured an Afghan interpreter.
Other Canadians who have been killed in Afghanistan include government diplomat Glyn Berry and aide workers Jacqueline Kirk and Shirley Case, who were in Afghanistan with the International Rescue Committee.
Berry was killed in a suicide attack as he and a group of soldiers drove in Kandahar.
Kirk, 40, was a dual British-Canadian citizen from Outremont, Que. Case, 30, was from Williams Lake, B.C. They were in a car in Logar province when it was ambushed by small-arms fire.
With files from AFP
© Copyright (c) Canwest News Service
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iper:
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From Voice of Jihad (Arabic) web page:
http://forums.army.ca/forums/threads/90842/post-901024#msg901024
http://forums.army.ca/forums/threads/90842/post-901024#msg901024
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To our fallen, rest in peace. To the Families, my sincerest condolences. 
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