Cpl. David Braun was killed in suicide attack in Kandahar
Cpl. David Braun was killed in suicide attack in Kandahar. (CP handout photo - DND)
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (CP) - Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan are preparing for a potential backlash after shooting dead a 10-year-old Afghan boy and injuring a teenager Tuesday.
The shooting took place after a Canadian soldier was killed and three others injured in a suicide attack in Kandahar City. Cpl. David Braun, based at CFB Shilo, Man., died when a Canadian resupply convoy was struck by a vehicle packed with explosives. The names of the three injured soldiers, who were listed in good condition, were not released.
One civilian - a young girl - was also killed by the blast, along with the attacker.
Approximately two hours after the attack, two Afghan youths were fired on by a Canadian soldier when their motorcycle breached a security perimeter around the bombing site.
A single bullet passed through the 17-year-old driver, striking and killing his 10-year-old passenger, Canadian military officials said.
The teenaged driver ran from the scene but later returned to the Canadians for medical help and was airlifted to the military hospital at Kandahar Air Field.
The Canadian who fired the shot may have believed the motorcycle was carrying a secondary explosive device, said Col. Fred Lewis, deputy commander of the Canadian contingent of NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).
"Clearly, the soldier thought they were (a threat)," Lewis said.
"The soldier went through the standard escalation of the rules of engagement, giving verbal and visual warnings."
Military officials could not confirm whether a warning shot had been fired.
The dead soldier was the eighth Canadian to be killed in southern Afghanistan this month and the 27th to die since Canada deployed ground forces to the country in early 2002.
It took nearly 15 hours from the time of the suicide attack for military officials to confirm publicly a Canadian had died.
Part of the reason for the delay was the 12 hours it took to locate and notify Braun's next of kin, said a Canadian Forces spokesman.
As well, the Prime Minister's Office in Ottawa insists on being informed in advance whenever a Canadian soldier is killed in action. The military spokesman couldn't say whether going through PMO channels had further delayed the announcement.
A Canadian LAV-3 light armoured vehicle burned for hours after the massive explosion.
Another, lesser-armoured G-Wagon utility vehicle was also destroyed.
Afghan police said the suicide attacker plowed his car into the Canadian convoy.
The initial explosion, described by witnesses as enormous, could be heard across Kandahar.
Thick plumes of black smoke billowed from the wrecked vehicles.
Every few seconds after the initial attack, there were more explosions, from bullets, grenades and other armaments that were cooking off in the intense heat.
Fire from the attack also damaged small shops in area.
A purported Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for the attack.
The shooting of the Afghan teenager and boy riding the motorcycle is being investigated by the military's National Investigation Service.
The incident is sure to be used by the Taliban as propaganda to persuade more young Afghans, angry at foreign soldiers being on their soil, to join their cause.
"I suspect they'll try," said Lewis, who added he's concerned about a potential backlash from the community for the fatal shooting incident.
"I would be concerned about it and I think we need to pass the right message to the Afghan people," he said.
"The message is that we're here to help them and we certainly would never want to hurt them."
Afghan journalists also report being fired upon by the Canadians when they tried to capture video and pictures of the bombing site.
Lewis couldn't confirm it but said it was possible shots were also fired at the journalists.
The suicide attack took place just outside Camp Nathan Smith, the base that's home to Canada's provincial reconstruction team in Kandahar.
Most of Canada's 2,200 troops on the mission to Afghanistan are based at Kandahar Air Field, a much larger military base on the outskirts of the city.
An earlier attack late Monday on a treacherous highway in southern Afghanistan left two Canadian soldiers injured, one seriously.
"The incident of last night was an ambush," said Lt.-Col. Ian Hope, the outgoing commander of Canada's battle group in Kandahar.
The patrol was struck at around 9:30 p.m. local time while driving on Kandahar's infamous Highway One, in an area known by Canadian soldiers as ambush alley.
"There have been dozens of ambushes on that highway in the past two or three months," said Hope.
"There were dozens last year as well."
The two Canadians were hurt when their patrol came under small-arms fire about 20 kilometres west of Kandahar.
One of the injured, Cpl. Jesse Melnyck based at CFB Petawawa in Eastern Ontario, was listed in stable, non-critical condition in Kandahar before being flown to a military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany for further treatment.
The other soldier was in hospital at Kandahar Air Field, and was in good condition. His name was not released.
The patrol was on its way back to Kandahar Airfield from the Zhari District centre, very near where Canadian and Afghan government soldiers fought intense battles with Taliban forces over the weekend in the volatile Panjawaii District, west of Kandahar.
Afghan government officials said 72 Taliban were killed in a massive ground, air and artillery assault.
NATO called the battles, which began late Saturday and ended in the early morning hours Sunday, a "big blow" to the Taliban, eliminating up to 10 per cent of their estimated numbers in southern Afghanistan.
Another potential ambush was averted in Helmand province, west of Kandahar.
British troops watched as the insurgents moved into position and got set to launch an assault in the province's Now Zad district, NATO said.
"Alert ISAF troops from the British paras identified the insurgents manoeuvring into an attack position and initiated an overwhelming response using high explosive ammunition," the alliance said in a statement.
There were no NATO or civilian casualties.
NATO's International Security Assistance Force has been expanding its reach into Helmand recently, where soldiers have inflicted "significant defeats" against insurgent forces in the province, said a NATO statement.
Hope predicted further ambushes along Kandahar's Highway One are inevitable but said Canadian soldiers are well equipped to take the hits.
"In most of the ambushes, we actually do very well," said Hope.
"We're in armoured vehicles and we have 25-millimetre cannons and machine-guns. We're actually able to turn in and fire at an enemy who we can see at night but who can't see us."
As well, Taliban insurgents would take more casualties than NATO forces in the area, based on past experience, he added.
"We've inflicted, conservatively, 50 casualties on these enemy ambush groups since April."
Most of Canada's soldiers currently in Afghanistan are newly arrived in Kandahar within the last few weeks, mainly from CFB Petawawa in eastern Ontario as well as CFB Shilo.
They have replaced an almost equal number who are in the process of returning to Canada, mainly out of CFB Edmonton.
00:38:23 EDT Aug 23, 2006
Canadian Press: TERRY PEDWELL
No comments:
Post a Comment