By IANS,
Toronto : December is proving to be one of the deadliest months for the six-year-old Canadian mission in Afghanistan.
Yet another Canadian soldier was killed Friday by an improvised explosive device (IED) in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province.
Reports from Kandahar said the soldier was killed by the Taliban-planted IED when the Canadian troops were on patrol in Zhari district. Three soldiers were also injured.
Earlier this month, six soldiers were killed in similar attacks, triggered by the Taliban in the country’s most volatile province.
The soldiers were killed while responding to calls about the insurgents planting the explosives on Highway One, which carries supplies from Kandahar to an American base in Helmand province.
“The soldiers were conducting security operations in the area when the explosion occurred,” said Brig. Gen. Denis Thompson, who heads the Canadian and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) forces in Kandahar.
Canada, which has over 2,500 troops fighting the insurgents in Kandahar province, has lost 104 soldiers so far.
In an operation, the Canadian and US forces Friday killed the brain behind the deadly IEDs.
Reports said the coalition forces acted on a tip-off to corner and kill Shahir Sahib and 11 other insurgents in Maiwand district of Kandahar province.