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ZHARI DISTRICT, Afghanistan — One Canadian soldier was killed yesterday and four others were injured as their convoy was heading back from the front lines for a long-awaited New Year's break.
Gunner Jonathan Dion was the first Canadian soldier to die in Afghanistan since Nov. 17 and the 74th to die since the mission began.
The highway bomb attack occurred about 20 kilometres west of Kandahar as the light armoured vehicle was bringing the soldiers back to the secure base. At the same time, an infantry group marched through Taliban territory and found no battles.
The roadside bomb attack speaks to the kind of invisible enemy the Canadian Forces face as they push deeper into insurgent territory in the south. Insurgents often prefer to fight by stealth rather than along front lines.
Gunner Jonathan Dion is shown in this undated handout photo. (The Canadian Press/Department of National Defence)
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Gunner Dion, of the 5th light artillery regiment based in Valcartier, Que., was killed shortly after 9 a.m. as his tracked armoured vehicle left a forward operating base in the Zhari district.
The destination was not to any battleground, but rather the Kandahar Air Field, where soldiers suffering the rigours of life on forward operating bases can get a few days rest and relaxation.
The troops in the vehicle, known as a TLAV, had not had any breaks this holiday season and were part of a rotation that is set to return home to Canada by March.
All of the four injured, who have not been identified by the military, are said to be in stable condition.
"This is a very difficult time for the family and friends of Gunner Dion, and our thoughts are with them," Brigadier-General Guy Laroche said in a statement.
Canada's top commander in Afghanistan added that his soldiers have generally had great successes in identifying and disabling roadside bombs. He described the TLAV, a modified version of an older armoured vehicle, as almost as good as the newer LAV IIIs.
Canadian soldiers had nearly gotten through the month of December without suffering a fatality. Improvised bombs have killed the majority of the Canadian soldiers who have died in Afghanistan since the mission began.
News of the latest death sparked only the briefest pause among the Canadian soldiers taking part in Operation Winter Storm yesterday as they searched nearby villages for Taliban fighters without finding any. The troops in the field expressed frustration they were after an enemy that appeared to be running away from them.
The teams did seize weaponry from the villages without suffering any casualties.
Canadian infantry backed up Afghan National Army soldiers who took the lead searching primitive mud compounds. ANA members found machine guns, ammunition, explosives, rocket-propelled grenades, and passports. They also found a tactical vest with blood on it, and there was some speculation the latter item belonged to a member of a group of Afghan police officers recently reported killed or kidnapped.
A Globe and Mail reporter was embedded in a LAV III during the mission, in a convoy that seemed to travel painstakingly slow along the highway and dirt roads — sometimes at speeds of not much more than a kilometre an hour. Crews proceeded very cautiously, stopping to investigate any possible IED threat.
The searches had just gotten under way when the forces heard a mysterious boom from a few kilometres away. "Happy new year," said one soldier, disgusted, after a field radio broadcast notified the troops of a slain comrade.
The soldiers continued their job of trying to root out insurgents in Sangisar and surrounding villages, said to have once been the home base of Taliban leader Mullah Omar.
"It's hard for us. But you just have to try to stick with the job until the job is done," Captain Marc-Antoine Sigouin said. "The mission was to disrupt the activities in the sector and that's been done because we knew there were some Taliban meetings around here."
Despite sporadic gunshots, the soldiers did not find any Taliban. An elderly man who said he was a cook for the insurgents was briefly taken into custody but let go. One villager said 30 families lived in his compound, but only eight remained because of the fighting.
With a report from Louie Palu
