By IANS,
Toronto : Four Canadian soldiers have been killed and eight injured in attacks by the Taliban near Kandahar in Afghanistan.
The soldiers were killed in two separate attacks triggered by improvised explosive devices (IEDs) planted by the insurgents Friday, reports said.
While two soldiers were killed when they were hit by an IED during foot patrol, the two others died when their armoured vehicle hit an IED. The two attacks took place within two hours at two places 40 kilometres apart.
The Canadians were participating in a joint Canadian-American-Afghan operation called Operation Jaley against the militants.
The killings have brought the Canadian toll in the Afghan mission to 116. Canada, which joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO)-led fight against the Taliban in 2002, has more than 2,500 troops deployed in the volatile Kandahar province.
The Canadian parliament has voted to the end the Afghan mission by December 2011.