Two Canadians wounded in Afghanistan suicide attack

[GAP]

Two Canadians wounded in Afghanistan suicide attack
Canwest News Service  Published: Friday, May 16, 2008
Article Link

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- A suicide attack in southern Afghanistan wounded two Canadian soldiers Friday.

The attack also wounded two Afghan soldiers who were conducting a foot patrol with the Canadians through the village of Nalgham, in the Zhari district, just west of Kandahar City.

All four soldiers were taken to the Kandahar Airfield military base for treatment. The Canadians were able to walk unescorted into the trauma centre and managed to telephone their families back home.

The exact nature of the injuries was not immediately available, nor the state of the Afghan soldiers.

The suicide bomber died in the attack. (gee, yuh think?)
More on link

 

[tomahawk6]

The suicide bomber was a kid.
A speedy recovery to the wounded and condolences to the fallen Afghan soldier's family

 

[ENGINEERS WIFE]

Suicide bomber who injured Canadians was a boy
Updated Fri. May. 16 2008 11:51 AM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

The suicide bomber who killed an Afghan soldier and wounded two Canadian soldiers Friday was a young boy, CTV News has learned.

A second Afghan soldier was also injured in the attack.

The incident occurred while the soldiers were conducting a foot patrol in a village in Zhari district, just west of Kandahar City, around 10 a.m. local time.

Military sources said the boy was around 10 years old, CTV's Paul Workman reported Friday from Kandahar.

The sources said the bomb was detonated from a distance by remote control.

"The suicide bomber was killed and the Canadians and the Afghans were all brought back to Kandahar Airfield for treatment," Workman told CTV's Canada AM.

Capt. Amber Bineau, a spokeswoman for the Canadian army battle group in Kandahar, said the two Canadians were able to "walk into the medical facility on their own."

Bineau said the families of the wounded soldiers would be notified.

The military does not usually release the names of Canadians and no further details about the incident were given.

Foot patrols

Canadians seem to be going back to foot patrols as a means of demonstrating they are on the ground and in the community. But they are typically acting in a support role to the Afghan National Army soldiers, who are taking more of a leadership role in southern Afghanistan, Workman said.

In recent weeks and months the frequency of suicide attacks from the Taliban has decreased, Workman said. With Friday's attack, and other violence in eastern and southern Afghanistan that left eight militants dead, there are fears the spring offensive could be reaching its peak.

"The Taliban seems to be using roadside bombs -- it seems to be for them a much more effective way of attacking the Canadians," Workman said.

"But of course there seems to be some concern this will be the height of the spring offensive season for the Taliban."

On May 6, Cpl. Michael Starker, a Calgary paramedic, was shot and killed while on foot patrol in the Pashmul region, outside Kandahar City.

Another Canadian was injured in the incident but is expected to recover.

 

[Richie]

More from the <A href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080516.wafghanistan0516/BNStory/International/home>Globe and Mail</a>. I hope their wounds are not serious. Sounds like the bomber was dressed as a woman.

2 Canadian soldiers wounded in Afghan suicide attack

MURRAY BREWSTER

Canadian Press

May 16, 2008 at 11:27 AM EDT

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — A joint Canadian and Afghan army patrol was attacked Friday by a suicide bomber, southwest of Kandahar.

Two Canadian soldiers and two Afghan soldiers were wounded in the incident, which took place about 40 kilometres from the city.

The suicide bomber was on foot, said Capt. Amber Bineau, a spokeswoman for the Canadian army battle group in Kandahar.

She said the two Canadians were evacuated by helicopter to Kandahar Airfield and were able to “walk into the medical facility on their own.”

The names of wounded Canadians are normally not released, but Bineau said the two soldiers would notify their families.

The four soldiers were on patrol at about 10 a.m. local time in the village of Nalgham, in Zhari district, when the bomber struck.

No further details about the incident were released.

The attack came just over a week after a Canadian soldier was killed while on foot patrol in the Pashmul region, outside Kandahar City.

Cpl. Michael Starker, a Calgary paramedic, was shot and killed May 6. Another Canadian was injured, but is expected to recover.

It was also the second suicide bombing this week in Afghanistan.

An attacker, disguised as a woman and wearing a burka, blew himself up Wednesday outside a police station in a small southwestern province of Farah. That blast killed 12 people and wounded 27 others.

Provincial Gov. Rohul Amin said the bomber was a woman. But the Taliban, which claimed responsibility for the blast, identified the attacker as a man named Mullah Khalid who was wearing the burka as a disguise.

The explosion occurred in Dialaram, a small town on the main road running through the west and south of the country.

Mr. Amin said five police officers, including a district police chief, and seven civilians were among the dead. He said the wounded included at least 11 police.

The bomber reportedly approached on foot and detonated the explosives on a busy street where police were inspecting vehicles. A provincial official said police tried to stop the attack seconds before the explosion.

Insurgents launched an estimated 140 suicide bombings last year, when more than 8,000 people, mostly militants, died in insurgency-related violence. At least 1,200 people have died so far this year.

 

[Celticgirl]

To recruit children as suicide bombers...wow...it just doesn't get any lower than that.  :rage:

I'm happy to hear that the soldiers (both Afghan and Canadian) were not seriously injured. However, I am heartbroken for that poor misguided boy and his family.

 

[Reccesoldier]

To recruit children as suicide bombers...wow...it just doesn't get any lower than that.  :rage:

I'm happy to hear that the soldiers (both Afghan and Canadian) were not seriously injured. However, I am heartbroken for that poor misguided boy and his family.

The article I read said that the bomb may have been remotely detonated and that the boy might have had his hands in the air.  To me that suggests something even worse, the Taliban forcing children to become their weapons.  :rage:

The only glimmer of hope is that this tactic was used by Al Qaeda in Iraq and helped turn the populace against them.

 

[Scoobie Newbie]

Considering the investigation about what happened, ie type of IED is still ongoing, perhaps we can minimize speculation based on MSM.

 

[Mike Baker]

To recruit children as suicide bombers...wow...it just doesn't get any lower than that.  :rage:

Just goes to show that the Taliban are afraid to face us in real combat.

What a bunch of fu**ers :rage:


Speedy recovery to the injured.

Baker

 

[Colin Parkinson]

Once confirmed, both NATO and the Afghan government should push to get this story and the picture onto media around world especially Arab & Asian media, to let the world know just how sick these folks are. AQI is losing in Iraq because they showed their true nature. I suspect that the new rising guard in the Taliban will be cut from the same cloth and will produce the same harvest of horror in Afghanistan.

Condolences to the family of the ANA soldier and glad to hear the Canadian are OK, but I suspect this will be a life long memory.

 

[Garett]

Considering what else is routinely done to little boys there, this doesn't surprise me. Disgusting nonetheless.

 

[Scoobie Newbie]

Man love Thursdays.  At least the Fridays are usually quite.  Not cool none-the-less.

 

[1feral1]

To recruit children as suicide bombers...wow...it just doesn't get any lower than that.  :rage:

Thats just how it is CG, they don't value life as much as the western world. Children, the elderly, along with the mentally handicapped are just tools to the enemy.

 

[vonGarvin]

Soldiers sickened by use of Afghan child in bombing
link

It was the utter cruelty of the attack Friday that wounded two Canadians and took life of an Afghan soldier on patrol in Zhari district that has made if even the most weather-beaten, battle-hardended faces blanche.
What investigators were trying to determine as they sifted through the evidence over the weekend was if the boy's bomb vest was remotely activated by a militant somewhere nearby, timed to go off _ or whether the child flipped the switch himself.
There was speculation that since the child approached the troops with his hands raised, the timing of the attack was not up to him.
"It's cowardice,'' snarled Sapper Chris Greenaway, 21, a member of the 1 Combat Engineer Regiment based in Edmonton.
"To recruit children is pure and utter cowardice.''

More at link above

 

[McG]

"To recruit children is pure and utter cowardice.''

The term "cowardice" does not do justice to the act of turning children (either willing, coerced or deceived) into weapons.  I went looking for something better to describe this immoral ghoulish act: despicable, loathsome, vile, depraved, demonic, evil.

... it all still seems like sugar coating it though.