Two Canadian peacekeepers Injured

[John Nayduk]

CTV.ca News Staff
 
Updated: Mon. Aug. 15 2005 11:50 AM ET

Two Canadian peacekeepers were reportedly injured in Egypt, near the border with the Gaza Strip, after a blast occurred near a vehicle they were travelling in.

The two Canadian soldiers -- serving in the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) -- were both women sergeants, according to senior Egyptian security officials.

Ian Baxendall, a spokesperson for MFO, said the soldiers were "lightly wounded" but gave no details about gender or age.

The Department of National Defence and the spokesperson for the Canadian Embassy in Cairo, Ulrich Shannon, did not confirm the injuries.

The soldiers are reportedly back on duty, according to CTV Middle East bureau chief Janis Mackey Frayer.

The blast, which was loud enough to be heard in the nearby Gaza Strip, was caused by a natural gas canister planted on the roadside and detonated through a wire, the governor of North Sinai said.

Baxendell refused to call the incident an attack.

"You cannot call it an attack because it was on a public highway and we're not certain of how it occurred,'' Baxendell told The Associated Press in Cairo.

The explosion occurred at about 8 a.m. local time, as the vehicle left the airport where the force is based -- 15 kilometres from the Gaza Strip, according to local security officials.

A white mini-bus bearing the MFO logo was found at the scene of the explosion. It had flat tires and broken windows.

The blast comes as Israel begins implementing its withdrawal plan in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.

The multinational force is made up of 1,800 troops from 11 countries. It was created to help implement the 1979 Camp David peace treaty between Israel and Egypt.

Canada has a 29-member team contributing to the MFO. Members include air traffic controllers, administrators and support personnel. They are located in El Gorah, Egypt.

The Canadian contribution is called Operation Calumet. When the operation began, in 1986, Canada sent a helicopter unit and 140 personnel to Egypt, which has since been scaled back.




© Copyright 2002-2006 Bell Globemedia Inc.

 

[2 Cdo]

"Baxendell refused to call the incident an attack."

A gas container planted on the road and detonated by an electrical wire, and it  is not an attack!
This Baxendall person sounds exactly like someone who needs to remove his head from his *ss! Maybe it just spontaneously sprouted there, grew an electrical wire and blew up on it's own! What a twit!

 

[Blakey]

I absolutely hate the CBC's Headline for this story,

Two Canadian female peacekeepers slightly wounded after blast at Egypt airport

Honestly, wtf does it matter that they were female?.

 

[JasonH]

Canadian military personnel slightly injured in roadside bomb incident near El Gorah, Egypt

    OTTAWA, Aug. 15 /CNW Telbec/ - At about 6:30 a.m. local (12:30 a.m. ET),
two Canadian Forces personnel serving with the Multinational Force and
Observers (MFO) were slightly injured after an improvised explosive device
detonated near their vehicle on a road near the MFO camp at El Gorah, Egypt.
    The explosion destroyed the van in which they were riding. The CF
personnel were checked by MFO medical staff and were subsequently released
from the dispensary. They have since returned to their normal duties.
    The incident occurred about 2 km from the MFO base known as the North
Camp. The van carrying the Canadian personnel was travelling on an approved
route. MFO staff, including members of the Canadian contingent attended the
scene with Egyptian security personnel. The incident is currently under
investigation.
    The Canadian contingent deployed with the MFO under Operation CALUMET
comprises 29 personnel. The MFO is the peacekeeping mission established to
monitor compliance by Israel and Egypt with the 1979 Camp David Accords. The
MFO has included a Canadian contingent since 1986.
    In compliance with the Privacy Act, the Department of National Defence
will not release the names of the CF personnel involved in this incident.

http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/August2005/15/c0307.html

 

[JasonH]

Egypt Militants claim explosion in Sinai
Egypt, Local, 8/16/2005

Egyptian security sources said that one explosion took place inside a small bus in a military air base used by the multi national forces in Sinai, and resulted in killing or injuring many people.

The sources indicated that the explosion took place in al-Joura airport near Rafah to the northeast of Sinai but gave no other details, or the motives behind the explosion.

This recent explosion came following a series of explosions which shook Sharm el-Sheikh resort in Sinai on July 23 and claimed the life of 64 persons most of them Egyptians in addition to several foreign tourists.

The Egyptian authorities on Sunday announced it arrested three persons suspected to be involved in the Sharm el-Sheikh explosions.

Meantime, "Mujahidi Mister ( Egypt militants) group claimed responsibility for the attack against the multi national force in Sinai which resulted in wounding two Canadian military men in north Sinai, according to a statement issued on the Internet.

The statement read that "lions from the Jihad attacked a car for the multinational forces and killed three Israelis and two Canadians and injured two others." This group is one of the three groups which claimed responsibility for Sharm el-Sheikh explosions in southern Sinai which resulted in killing 67 persons including 20 foreigners on July 23.

http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/050816/2005081602.html

 

[claybot]

"Baxendell refused to call the incident an attack."

A gas container planted on the road and detonated by an electrical wire, and it   is not an attack!
This Baxendall person sounds exactly like someone who needs to remove his head from his *ss! Maybe it just spontaneously sprouted there, grew an electrical wire and blew up on it's own! What a twit!

The CTV story is very vague about when each person was interviewed. As the spokesperson for the MFO Baxendall is not allowed to release un confirmend information as it could lead to problems for DND. Who knows when he was iinterviewedfor this story. If ihewas interviewed prior to the report of it being confirmed it was a bomb and then the media got the confirmation and just added everything together for the story.

Look at how the story is written, its in cchronologicalorder meaning the reporter wrote it as he got the info, at the time Baxendall may not know what happened since the report of the bomb was not aavailable Plus he is quoted as talking to the AAssociated Press in Cairo, it was the the governor of North Sinai who confirmed that it was a bomb.

You shouldn't believe everything the media prints it can be very misleading, who knows what the angle is for CTV are they for or aagainst the military

 

[2 Cdo]

Claybot, nice cover for this twit. If it is in chronological order, the statement he makes is after it is revealed to be planted and electrically detonated. The point is that we seem to have this aversion to calling an attack an attack, and this fellow perpetuates this. I stand by my read of him, he sounds like a typical bureaucrat, afraid of saying anything that might upset anyone. Frankly it disgusts me!

 

[claybot]

Please read the interview but to make it easier I copied the section you pointed out His interview started before that statement about the wire but the reporter edited to make the story read better by inserting the other information they got from another source.


Ian Baxendall, a spokesperson for MFO, said the soldiers were "lightly wounded" but gave no details about gender or age.

The Department of National Defence and the spokesperson for the Canadian Embassy in Cairo, Ulrich Shannon, did not confirm the injuries.

The soldiers are reportedly back on duty, according to CTV Middle East bureau chief Janis Mackey Frayer.

The blast, which was loud enough to be heard in the nearby Gaza Strip, was caused by a natural gas canister planted on the roadside and detonated through a wire, the governor of North Sinai said.

Baxendell refused to call the incident an attack.

Like I said in my last post don't believe the media's point of view. If anyone should know how the media twists stories around for their own use it should be a former member of the Airborne.

2 Cdo 84-88 then you must have know Kevin Littlejohn and Andy Mosienko

 

[The Bread Guy]

This wasn't an attack or an incident, it was fireworks - check para 4!

http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2005/756/eg3.htm

A warning shot?

What does the rudimentary roadside bomb that injured two Canadian members of an international peace-keeping force in Sinai signify, asks Jailan Halawi

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In what appeared to be a message about the presence of foreign peace-keepers in the Sinai Peninsula near the Gaza Strip, unidentified assailants detonated a crude roadside bomb that slightly injured two female members of the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) and damaged their patrol vehicle on Monday.

The blast took place near an MFO camp in Al-Gourah, nearly 30km southeast of Arish on Sinai's Mediterranean coast, about 15km from the Egyptian border with Gaza at Rafah. Reportedly, the blast went off around 6.30am on the highway about two kilometres from the MFO base.

According to North Sinai Governor Ahmed Abdel-Hamid, the two wounded soldiers were in stable condition. A natural gas canister that was planted on the roadside and detonated through a wire, Abdel-Hamid said, caused the explosion. A second wired canister failed to explode. According to security officials, the canisters were filled with explosives.

[size=10pt] ???Abdel-Hamid, however, called the explosions "firecrackers" that were meant more as warnings than to cause major damage. ???[/size]

According to Palestinian Authority representatives quoted by the press, the blast was loud enough to be heard in the Gaza Strip.

The Department of National Defence in Ottawa confirmed that the two members of the MFO were from Canada; although slightly injured, they have returned to their normal duties following a medical check up, the Canadians said in an official statement. The statement only said the vehicle carrying the Canadian personnel was travelling on an approved route.

An MFO spokesperson quoted by AP refused to call the incident an attack, "because it was on a public highway and we're not certain of how it occurred."

The blast came as Egypt is expected to deploy several hundred troops along its border with the Gaza Strip to help maintain security as Israel implements its withdrawal plan and evacuates its settlers from the occupied territories. The Egyptian forces are meant to boost security in the area. The incident also took place while Egyptian security forces have been looking for Islamist militants in Sinai suspected to have taken part in the 23 July triple bombings in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh that left 67 dead and scores injured.

One of the three groups that claimed responsibility for the Sharm El-Sheikh blasts issued an online statement saying it was also behind the MFO explosion. "Here are the lions of jihad striking the Sinai Peninsula once again despite the precautions which the infidel security forces have taken," said the statement, which was issued by a group calling itself the "Mujahideen of Egypt." The statement claimed that the attack left three Israelis and two Canadians dead, figures which were neither confirmed nor reported by any other source.

A security source speaking on customary condition of anonymity said representatives of countries contributing to the MFO met in Cairo following the incident to discuss the situation. The MFO is made up of 1,800 members from 11 countries. The 10 currently participating states are Australia, Canada, Colombia, Fiji, France, Hungary, Italy, New Zealand, the United States and Uruguay.

The MFO is an independent peace-keeping mission created as a result of the 1978 Camp David accords and the 1979 Camp David peace treaty between Egypt and Israel. Since 1982, various nations have contributed military and civilian personnel to the mission.

Canada's contribution is a 29-member team, which include air traffic controllers, administrators and support personnel, all located in Al-Gourah. The Canadian contribution is called Operation Calumet. When the operation began in 1986, Canada sent a helicopter unit and 140 personnel to Egypt, a force that has since been largely scaled back.

In an initial reaction to the incident, the United Nations office in Cairo issued a statement warning its staff to avoid the entire Sinai Peninsula until the truth is determined. It further urged all agency heads to "contact any UN staff currently in Sinai, or planning a trip in Sinai, to immediately revise their itineraries."

On Tuesday, the US Embassy in Cairo issued a similar warning to its nationals.

 

[2 Cdo]

Claybot, yes I know both men. I also know you because I was in 2 VP from 94-2002. The point I was making is a bureaucrat refuses to say anything that could offend anyone (unless it is the Airborne Regiment!) regardless of the circumstances! This entirely Canadian characteristic that these people show irritates the guts out of me. Whatever happened to saying what you mean and calling "a spade a spade" and not a shovel.

The amount of doublespeak that comes from our "government officials" is truly disgusting and should be eliminated. But we know the average Canadian buys into this stream of bullsh*t and literally laps it up willingly. I truly feel sorry for my children when I see what Canada is becoming!

Sorry about the off-topic rant, please continue with the subject at hand.

 

[claybot]

Anyone whos has been in 2 VP knows me.

Its a good rant......