A suicide car bomber struck a military convoy near the southern Afghan city of Kandahar on Monday, killing two Canadian soldiers, NATO says. There were initial reports that an Afghan civilian was also killed, but NATO officials said they believed there were no civilian casualties.
A Canadian soldier takes note over the wreckage of a suicide bomber's vehicle after the attack near Kandahar.
(Allauddin Khan/AP)
Maj. Luke Knittig, a spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, told CBC News early Monday that the two Canadian soldiers killed in the attack were helping with reconstruction projects in an area where there has been heavy fighting in recent months. "It is a sad day. Every time we lose soldiers, it is a sad day," he said. Provincial police chief Ismatullah Alizai said the attack occurred near a gate that leads to the city of Kandahar after the bomber drove up to a military convoy. He said the attack killed one Afghan civilian and wounded another.
Canadian soldiers load a colleague's body into a helicopter after the attack.
(Allauddin Khan/AP)
Before the latest incident, the last two Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan were Sgt. Darcy Tedford and Pte. Blake Williamson. They died on Oct. 14 when they were ambushed west of Kandahar. On Sunday in southern Afghanistan, a suicide bomber killed 15 Afghans and wounded 24 after setting off a bomb in a packed restaurant.