5 Canadians Wounded

[Thanato]

5 Canadian soldiers hurt in suicide attack

A suicide bomber drove his vehicle into a Canadian military convoy outside Kandahar on Friday, injuring five soldiers, said the military.

One of the Canadians received serious injuries to his arm, while the four others were slightly wounded.

The seriously injured soldier will be flown to a U.S. military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany. A surgeon at the Kandahar military base said the soldier will likely undergo reconstructive surgery and should be able to keep his arm, said CBC reporter Patrick Brown.

A small vehicle rammed into the armoured LAV III and exploded, causing a loud blast and sending plumes of smoke into the air.

The attack was about halfway along the 25-kilometre trek between Kandahar airbase and the provincial reconstruction team base in Kandahar City, said Lieut. Mark MacIntyre, a Canadian Forces spokesperson.

The soldiers had been escorting a four-vehicle convoy of investigators looking into a January attack that took the life of Canadian diplomat Glyn Berry.

"The injuries could have been much worse had it not been for the armour the LAV III offers," said MacIntyre.

A spokesperson for the Taliban told the Associated Press it sent the bomber, who is an Afghan from Kandahar province.

The wounded were taken from the scene in an armoured Bison ambulance, which caught fire along the way, said the military. The patients were transferred to a G-Wagon for the rest of the trip.

Soldier killed Thursday

The attack came hours before soldiers gathered for a ceremony on the Kandahar base to load the body of Canadian soldier Cpl. Paul Davis onto a flight to Canada.

The entire Canadian contingent turned out for the ceremony, said MacIntyre.

Davis, a Nova Scotia native, was killed Thursday when his armoured vehicle ran off the road to avoid an oncoming car and flipped. Six other soldiers and one Afghan civilian were injured.

In Nova Scotia, provincial politicians paid tribute to the young soldier from Bridgewater.

"It is with deep regret that my first statement in the house as premier is to stand in recognition of the life and the tragic death of one of our province's own soldiers," Premier Rodney MacDonald said Friday.

Flags at the provincial legislature and government buildings in Bridgewater have been lowered to half-mast.

Pte. Miguel Chavez, one of the soldiers seriously injured in Thursday's attack, is being treated at the U.S. hospital in Landstuhl. Two others, who haven't been identified, are expected to arrive there later Friday, said Canadian Forces spokesperson Major Nick Withers.

Davis was the ninth Canadian soldier to be killed in the mission to Afghanistan.

Canada has about 2,200 troops in southern Afghanistan, under the command of Canadian Brig.-Gen. David Fraser.

Source

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Now if this dosnt prove how good those vehicals are, im not sure what will.

~Thanato

[KingTomis]

Very true, if they were in for instance an unarmored Humvee it could have been a very different situation. There would be several dead soldiers instead of wounded.

[Thanato]

The CF dosnt use Hummers they use armoured G-Wagons similar to this

~Thanato

Edited March 4, 2006 by Thanato

[Stellar]

The CF also has Humvees, but those are limited to JTF2. I forsee them getting some Humvees for CSOR too, though.

[Thanato]

Thought i read JTF2 would be getting rid of the Humvees once the G-Wagons got here. they would use them instead, tho be it heavily modified with minimal protection.

~Thanato

[Doctor_Strangelove]

I was watching that on the news. Didn't catch all the details though because I was watching the French channel. I guesse it's good that they were just wounded and not killed.

[bathory]

interesting how people were telling me suicide bombers don't do such crazy things like ram convoys and detonate in that thread about that video of contractors shooting at cars

[Thanato]

This is in a different country. And the guy was parked beside the roadwaiting for the convoy to pass and then rammed the first vehical.

~Thanato

[Boff]

They said on the news one guy might lose his arm .

Very glad nobody was killed.