Canadians in Afghanistan
Posted on December 14, 2008
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Three Canadian soldiers have been killed in a bomb attack in southern Afghanistan. The three were on patrol in the province of Kandahar in an armoured vehicle when the bomb exploded. One soldier was injured. Canada has 2,750 soldiers in Afghanistan. In the six years, they have been deployed in Afghanistan 103 have been killed. On Sunday morning four Afghan policemen were killed by a suicide bomber in the provincial capital Kandahar. The suicide bomber blew himself up outside a hospital in the city.
The Canadian Forces plane carrying the remains of Pte. Demetrios Diplaros, 25, Cpl. Mark Robert McLaren, 23, and Warrant Officer Robert John Wilson, 27, landed at Canadian Forces Base Trenton at 2 p.m. ET. The deaths bring to 100 the number of Canadian troops who have been killed in the conflict. All of the latest casualties were members of 1st Battalion, the Royal Canadian Regiment, based at Petawawa, Ont., west of Ottawa. On Saturday, more than 2,000 NATO soldiers lined the tarmac at Kandahar Airfield to pay their respects as the three were carried in flag-draped coffins on the shoulders of fellow soldiers into the belly of a Hercules aircraft to begin the trip back to Canada. McLaren’s father, Alan, said in Peterborough, Ont., that his son was “living his dream” on his second tour of Afghanistan. “He was well aware of the risks. We were too, but nobody is ever prepared to hear that their loved one has passed away . . . He was the best son we could have ever asked for.” Col. Dean Milner, who leads the 2 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group at CFB Petawawa, said neither he nor military families attach any special significance to the fact that the Canadian Forces have now lost 100 members in the current Afghanistan mission.
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