SANDIE RINALDO: Good evening. Canadian forces are locked in some of the fiercest fighting of the mission in Afghanistan. Two more soldiers were wounded today, one seriously. Early reports said one of them may have been injured by friendly fire. But in the fog of war, itÆs unclear what exactly happened. Here is what is we know. The firefights are part of Operation Mountain Thrust, a massive coalition offensive in the Panjwai region, long a Taliban stronghold west of Kandahar City. As the battles raged, other Canadian troops fired supporting artillery rounds from positions close to Kandahar City. When air power did arrive, it was close and concentrated lending to early confusion between the front and Kandahar.
MAJOR MARC THERIAULT (Canadian Forces): The soldiers suffered blast injuries for some of the ordinants that was dropped on the enemy position.
RINALDO: However, commanders on the ground say both Canadians were injured in combat with the Taliban. The offensive is far from over and everyone accepts there could be more casualties.
THERIAULT: Making progress often unfortunately involves having people wounded. So we will carry on.
RINALDO: And CTV's Steve Chao is embedded with Canadian troops and he's on the line now from Panjwai province. Steve, how bad was the fighting?
STEVE CHAO (Reporter): It's an area hostile to coalition forces. The coalition forces, mostly Canadians here, unleashed a heavy barrage of gunfire as well as air power on locations. They believe they killed about 25 insurgents in a battle that lasted about 15 hours. This was a major campaign, one of the most severe campaigns that Canadian soldiers have been engaged in so far.
RINALDO: Steve, what about the confusing reports? One of the Canadian soldiers may have been injured by friendly fire. Can you confirm?
CHAO: They're fighting in vineyards, they're fighting in mud walled compounds, and they're also trying to work together with the Afghan national army on these sort of offensives. So it's very hard to determine if during the battle exactly where the fire is coming from. We understand that the two soldiers were injured when a rocket propelled grenade landed near their position. Did that come from the Afghan national army? That's still to be determined. We do know that the fighting has been extremely fierce and that this is the most fierce fighting that Canadian soldiers have undergone so far.
RINALDO: Thanks, Steve. CTV's Steve Chao in Kandahar.
PUBLICATION: CTV - CTV News
DATE: 2006.07.08
TIME: 23:00:00 ET
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