Canada in Afghanistan

[Geoff Winnington-Ball (RIP)]

God Rest Your Souls, my lads.

Three soldiers killed, one injured in Afghanistan


CTV.ca News Staff
Updated: Sat. Dec. 13 2008 5:39 PM ET

Three Canadian soldiers have died west of Kandahar city, after an improvised explosive device detonated. A fourth soldier was injured in the blast.

The soldiers were responding to reports of people planting a suspicious object.

The Canadian military said Saturday that primary next-of-kin have been notified, but the soldiers will not be identified until extended family members have been contacted.

The news came as 1,000 mourners paid tribute to Cpl. Mark Robert McLaren in a Peterborough, Ont., drill hall. He was one of three soldiers killed in a roadside blast on Dec. 5, bringing Canada's troop death toll to the grim milestone of 100.

McLaren, 23, died alongside Pte. Demetrios Diplaros, 23, and Warrant Officer Robert John Wilson, 27, on Dec. 5, when the armoured truck they were travelling in struck an IED.

Saturday's deaths occurred near where the Dec. 5 attack happened, just west of Kandahar City, on the border between the Arghandab and Zhari districts, near the village of Senjaray.

"It's the same type of attack, an IED, in almost exactly the same place," Globe and Mail reporter Graeme Smith told CTV Newsnet on the phone from Kandahar.

"It's a very dangerous stretch of highway that runs west of Kandahar city, just over the bridge that leads you out to the farmland where Canadians have been fighting for the last two years."

The area was not considered a Taliban stronghold until recently, Smith said.
With the latest attack, Canada's troop death toll is now 103. A Canadian diplomat has also been killed.