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http://www.canada.com/components/print.aspx?id=f186aeac-6b46-440e-830b-ba9b6141e78d
ARGHANDAB DISTRICT, Afghanistan - Taliban guerrillas yesterday tried to attack a Canadian patrol for a second time in the mountains north of Kandahar, but this time the soldiers caught them in the act of planting the roadside bomb.
"They tried to get us again," said Sergeant Rob Dolson of A Company 1st Battalion Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, whose section was hit by a roadside bomb two days ago. "They even planted the thing maybe 20 to 25 metres from where the last one was."
But Sgt. Dolson said his troops, accompanied by U.S. soldiers, found the bomb and may have wounded the man who planted it as he ran away.
"They spotted this guy walking in one of the wadis," he said, referring to the dry creek beds common in this area. "He was looking around in the dirt ... We knew there was something dodgy because he was looking around like a kid who'd taken something from the candy store. He was trying to see if someone was watching."
The Canadian-led patrol took him by surprise, loosing a burst of machine-gun fire at the suspected bomber.
"He lit out right away," said Sgt. Dolson, taking a break with his soldiers in a rock-strewn valley in the Canadian patrol area, several hours' drive north of Kandahar. "They shot at him again, and the [machine-gun crew] think they hit him."
The man fled to a nearby village, and the Canadians reported the incident to the local detachment of the Afghan National Police.
When the area was searched, the soldiers found a bomb even more powerful than the one that hit the patrol on Friday. The escaped man is suspected to have also planted that device. Three soldiers were injured when the patrol by A Company, nicknamed "The Red Devils," was attacked.
Military spokesmen did not release the names of the wounded troops but said none of their injuries was serious.
A fourth soldier was later found to have suffered whiplash when the LAV III armoured troop carrier was attacked. The vehicle lost two front tires and will be repaired in Kandahar, military spokesmen said.
"The vehicle came through in pretty good shape, considering," said Sgt. Dolson, adding that the bomb found yesterday would have likely caused more damage. "It would've pretty much shredded a smaller vehicle."
The Red Devils yesterday launched the first "solo" Canadian patrol into the nearly 4,000 square kilometres of rugged mountains and foothills that will be their responsibility for the next six months.
The Canadian battle group, which will grow to a 2,200-strong task force by the end of the month, has until now patrolled in conjunction with the U.S. Army task force that has been responsible for the region for the past year.
The area has long been a hotbed of support for the Taliban, who have been mounting an increasingly violent series of attacks on coalition and Afghan government forces for the past six months, increasingly using suicide and roadside bombs. At least eight Canadian troops have been wounded by suicide bombs or roadside bombs since the provincial reconstruction team arrived here last August.
There have been more than 20 suicide bombings in Afghanistan in the past four months, including one that killed Canadian diplomat Glyn Berry and wounded three Canadian soldiers on Jan. 15.
Last month, Canadian troops and Afghan police averted a potentially deadly car bomb, working through the night to defuse a vehicle packed with enough explosives to cause what a military spokesman called "a catastrophe." The small car, filled with 120-millimetre mortar shells and dozens of smaller explosives, was found abandoned on a street in Kandahar by the Afghan National Police.
In another incident, a minivan full of explosives was found less than five kilometres from the main coalition base in southern Afghanistan. An Afghan National Army patrol found the van, a potentially massive suicide car bomb, on a bridge along the main route between the airfield and the city of Kandahar, said Lieutenant-Colonel Burt Ges, commander of the U.S. task force that is being replaced by Canadian troops.
The attacks represent a change in tactics for the Taliban, the hardline Islamic rulers of Afghanistan who were ousted after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. Canadian intelligence officers say the attacks are not a sign that the Taliban is growing in strength, but rather that they have shifted tactics after last year's more conventional guerrilla attacks on coalition and Afghan government forces failed miserably.
ARGHANDAB DISTRICT, Afghanistan - Taliban guerrillas yesterday tried to attack a Canadian patrol for a second time in the mountains north of Kandahar, but this time the soldiers caught them in the act of planting the roadside bomb.
"They tried to get us again," said Sergeant Rob Dolson of A Company 1st Battalion Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, whose section was hit by a roadside bomb two days ago. "They even planted the thing maybe 20 to 25 metres from where the last one was."
But Sgt. Dolson said his troops, accompanied by U.S. soldiers, found the bomb and may have wounded the man who planted it as he ran away.
"They spotted this guy walking in one of the wadis," he said, referring to the dry creek beds common in this area. "He was looking around in the dirt ... We knew there was something dodgy because he was looking around like a kid who'd taken something from the candy store. He was trying to see if someone was watching."
The Canadian-led patrol took him by surprise, loosing a burst of machine-gun fire at the suspected bomber.
"He lit out right away," said Sgt. Dolson, taking a break with his soldiers in a rock-strewn valley in the Canadian patrol area, several hours' drive north of Kandahar. "They shot at him again, and the [machine-gun crew] think they hit him."
The man fled to a nearby village, and the Canadians reported the incident to the local detachment of the Afghan National Police.
When the area was searched, the soldiers found a bomb even more powerful than the one that hit the patrol on Friday. The escaped man is suspected to have also planted that device. Three soldiers were injured when the patrol by A Company, nicknamed "The Red Devils," was attacked.
Military spokesmen did not release the names of the wounded troops but said none of their injuries was serious.
A fourth soldier was later found to have suffered whiplash when the LAV III armoured troop carrier was attacked. The vehicle lost two front tires and will be repaired in Kandahar, military spokesmen said.
"The vehicle came through in pretty good shape, considering," said Sgt. Dolson, adding that the bomb found yesterday would have likely caused more damage. "It would've pretty much shredded a smaller vehicle."
The Red Devils yesterday launched the first "solo" Canadian patrol into the nearly 4,000 square kilometres of rugged mountains and foothills that will be their responsibility for the next six months.
The Canadian battle group, which will grow to a 2,200-strong task force by the end of the month, has until now patrolled in conjunction with the U.S. Army task force that has been responsible for the region for the past year.
The area has long been a hotbed of support for the Taliban, who have been mounting an increasingly violent series of attacks on coalition and Afghan government forces for the past six months, increasingly using suicide and roadside bombs. At least eight Canadian troops have been wounded by suicide bombs or roadside bombs since the provincial reconstruction team arrived here last August.
There have been more than 20 suicide bombings in Afghanistan in the past four months, including one that killed Canadian diplomat Glyn Berry and wounded three Canadian soldiers on Jan. 15.
Last month, Canadian troops and Afghan police averted a potentially deadly car bomb, working through the night to defuse a vehicle packed with enough explosives to cause what a military spokesman called "a catastrophe." The small car, filled with 120-millimetre mortar shells and dozens of smaller explosives, was found abandoned on a street in Kandahar by the Afghan National Police.
In another incident, a minivan full of explosives was found less than five kilometres from the main coalition base in southern Afghanistan. An Afghan National Army patrol found the van, a potentially massive suicide car bomb, on a bridge along the main route between the airfield and the city of Kandahar, said Lieutenant-Colonel Burt Ges, commander of the U.S. task force that is being replaced by Canadian troops.
The attacks represent a change in tactics for the Taliban, the hardline Islamic rulers of Afghanistan who were ousted after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. Canadian intelligence officers say the attacks are not a sign that the Taliban is growing in strength, but rather that they have shifted tactics after last year's more conventional guerrilla attacks on coalition and Afghan government forces failed miserably.
