[Geoff Winnington-Ball (RIP)]

Two Canadians hurt in Afghanistan landmine blast

Updated Tue. Nov. 21 2006 12:15 PM ET
CTV.ca News Staff

Two Canadian soldiers were injured during foot patrol on Tuesday when an anti-personnel landmine detonated in southern Afghanistan.

"Two Canadian soldiers were injured after one of them stepped on what's believed to be an anti-personnel mine. This happened about 25 kilometres west of Kandahar City in an area where Canadian soldiers are building a road," CTV's Steve Chao reported from Kandahar.

The two soldiers, who are from the Royal Canadian Regiment, based in Petawawa, Ont., were in the Panjwaii district west of Kandahar city when the landmine exploded.

It's unclear whether the landmine was a new one planted by the Taliban or an old one that surfaced after days of rain.

"It's very clear that Afghanistan is perhaps the most heavily mined country in the world. This is an area that has seen conflict through the centuries so there is a great deal of old explosives lying around here," Chao told Newsnet.

"Even as the Canadians were building this road in the Panjwaii area, they came across several caches of weapons, some very old Soviet weapons, some even older Chinese weapons, other ones are coming in from Pakistan as well," he said.

The two wounded soldiers have been transported to hospital at Kandahar Airfield.

A military spokesman told The Canadian Press that one of the soldiers underwent emergency surgery for "severe lower body injuries."

He was being transferred to the U.S. military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany.

He will undergo treatment at the military hospital before he returns home to Canada.

The military spokesman told CP that the other soldier was expected to return to duty soon as he suffered only minor injuries.

Since 2002, 42 Canadian soldiers have died, most of them in battles in the south of the country over the past few months.

With a report from CTV's Steve Chao in Kandahar