[Alex Blair (RIP)]

One soldier has died,according to the CBC since this news Item came out..

3 soldiers wounded in attack on Cdn convoy




KABUL, Afghanistan (CP) - A car driven by an apparent suicide car bomber swerved into a Canadian military convoy and exploded Sunday in the southern city of Kandahar, witnesses said. Three coalition soldiers were wounded in the attack that also killed two civilians and injured 10, according to officials.

Shopkeeper Rahim Gul, who saw the incident, said a sedan vehicle blew up as it was passing the convoy.

"The explosion was so big: it destroyed one jeep and blew it totally to the other side of the road," he said, adding he saw three soldiers among the casualties.

U.S. military spokesman Lieut. Mike Cody confirmed there were three coalition soldiers wounded in the attack but declined to disclose their nationality.

CTV News quoted a witness saying he saw three Canadian soldiers loaded onto stretchers and taken to an airbase hospital. The witness said a taxi swerved into the convoy and blew up.

The blast occurred as the convoy was moving near the Canadian base in Kandahar, a former Taliban stronghold, said Dad Mohammed Rasa, an Interior Ministry spokesman.

Rasa said at least two civilians were killed and 10 wounded, and an unspecified number of Canadian troops were hurt.

Calls to the Canadian Forces in Kandahar and the Department of National Defence in Ottawa were not immediately returned in the first few hours after the incident.

Canada has about about 650 troops in Afghanistan, nearly all in Kandahar. Ottawa plans to increase the Canadian military presence in Kandahar to 2,000 next month. Canadian commanders have spoken about the dangers the troops face in the volatile southern region of Afghanistan and warned the public to expect casualties.

The blast is the latest in a string of suicide attacks that represent a new and disturbing security threat in Afghanistan, four years after the Taliban was ousted for hosting Osama bin Laden, the al-Qaida leader believed to be the mastermind behind the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

Violence across southern and eastern Afghanistan spiked last year, leaving about 1,600 people dead, the most since 2001.

The fighting normally eases during the winter months, when snow blankets the region, but the past few weeks have seen a string of suicide attacks and other assaults.