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Excerpt - A roadside bomb has killed an Afghan district chief and a police official in the southern Kandahar province. The attack took place when the district chief of Registan, Amir Mohammad, was driving home with police official Assadullah, police said. ~ snip ~

Reuters - TWIN SUICIDE BLASTS IN POLICE HQ IN AFGHAN SOUTH, SOME CASUALTIES - POLICE AFP via translation - KANDAHAR (Afghanistan) - Two explosions have hit Sunday the police headquarters in Kandahar, a Taliban stronghold in southern Afghanistan, which apparently victims, according to an AFP journalist.

American battalion to help Canadian forces in Afghanistan Scott Deveau , Canwest News Service August 30, 2008 KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- The United States has deployed a much-needed battalion of 800 troops to assist Canadian and Afghan Forces in Kandahar and to try to tame the province's Wild West. While the battalion has been active in Kandahar since early July, it has only just begun its operations in the past few weeks in the Maywand district, which borders on Helmand province to the west, and will serve as its new home. Until now, insurgents have been using Maywand as a corridor...

Kandahar tourniquet developed to save livesMonday, August 18, 2008Project Number:08-0556Kandahar, Afghanistan – Afghan soldiers can now save lives thanks to a medical prototype developed by Coalition forces. The Kandahar tourniquet, created for the Afghan National Army (ANA), will improve the survival rate of soldiers suffering serious injuries and massive hemorrhage. Imagine a dismounted infantry company mentoring team moving through a village in the Zhari District of Afghanistan. The team is weighed down with weapons, ammunition, radios, night vision devices and personal protective equipment. Every soldier is trained to deliver tactical combat casualty care and is equipped with advanced wound dressings,...

KABUL (AFP) - Six foreign troops including a Polish national were slain in bombings in Afghanistan on Saturday, the forces said, making it the deadliest day for international soldiers in the war-torn nation this year. Meanwhile, the Afghan army said five Afghan troopers and dozens of militants were killed in operations across the country in the last 24 hours. Four of the foreign troops serving in the US-led coalition were killed when insurgents attacked them with an improvised bomb and small arms fire just outside the strategic southern city of Kandahar on Saturday, the force said. "Four coalition service members...

MONARAI, Afghanistan (Reuters) - NATO and Afghan forces held mopping up operations, hunting Taliban fighters and burying the dead on Friday, after an air and ground offensive routed hundreds of insurgents from a valley near Kandahar city. The allies mounted the offensive on Wednesday after the Taliban took control of the Arghandab valley, 20 km (12 miles) northwest of Kandahar. Around 600 militants, including some who had escaped a week ago during a mass jail break from a prison in the city, had taken up positions in a cluster of villages, according to a provincial official and a Taliban spokesman....

ARGHANDAB DISTRICT, Afghanistan -- Hundreds of Taliban fighters have been killed or wounded after two days of fierce fighting over a strategic area just northwest of Kandahar City that insurgents had taken over at the start of the week. By Thursday, all that remained was the mopping up of small scattered pockets of resistance, jubilant political leaders and Afghan and Canadian military commanders told reporters from a mountainside perch overlooking the entire battlefield in a wide river valley. "This will give them a good lesson," Kandahar Gov. Asadullah Khalid said, referring to Taliban insurgents. Mr. Khalid said residents who had...

Excerpt - Afghan officials say military operations have cleared Taliban militants from the villages they had infiltrated outside southern Afghanistan's largest city. Kandahar Governor Asadullah Khalid said on Thursday that Taliban fighters had fled the villages in Arghandab district after overnight battles and air strikes. Khalid reported "hundreds" of Taliban wounded or killed over the last several days, but Nato officials have not confirmed that claim. ~ snip ~

Reports that suggest the Taliban have gained a footing in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province are “way overblown,” a Pentagon spokesman said today. Press Secretary Geoff Morrell told reporters at a news conference that although an increased Taliban presence has been detected in the province, patrols conducted by Afghan National Police and coalition forces “found no evidence that militants control the area.” Press reports from the region said the Taliban had taken seven villages in the area and were poised for an attack on the city of Kandahar. “While in the area, coalition forces moved freely and met no resistance,” Morrell said....

Jail Blast Frees Hundreds Of Taliban Updated:22:34, Friday June 13, 2008 Hundreds of Taliban militants have escaped from a prison in Kandahar, Afghanistan, after a co-ordinated suicide bomb and rocket attack tore through the jail's defences. Nearly all of an estimated 1,150 prisoners fled when a Taliban suicide bomber blew open the main gate, officials said. Eyewitnesses reported that the fighters fired several rockets at various parts of the mud-built prison. "All the prisoners escaped. There is no one left," said Wali Karzai, the brother of President Hamid Karzai and the president of Kandahar's provincial council. Militants first exploded a...

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Taliban insurgents blew open the gate of a main prison in the Afghan city of Kandahar on Friday, allowing hundreds of prisoners including suspected militants to escape, officials said. Under cover of darkness, nearly all of an estimated 1,150 prisoners, including some 400 Taliban inmates, fled from the jail, two officials in the southern city of Kandahar told Reuters on condition of anonymity. Another official said between 750 and 800 prisoners had managed to escape, adding some prisoners were killed in a gun battle between police and Taliban fighters inside the jail. "I think scores of...

Like pensions and insurance, defence is one of those subjects to which too many people only pay attention when things go wrong. You might think, in the light of the past decade, that this would have changed. But you would be sadly mistaken. Even today, even after Iraq, few mainstream MPs without an immediate personal or constituency interest in the subject turn up in the Commons for defence debates. Many politicians who are thoughtful about a range of domestic issues still pass by on the other side when the conversation gravitates to the military. In this they reflect the British...

KABUL - Kandahar, where Canadian forces are responsible for security, is no longer the most hazardous place in Afghanistan, according to a senior Afghan general. "It is now Helmand that is the most dangerous, not Kandahar," said General Zahir Azimi in an interview over lunch this week in the Afghan capital. "This is because Canadian troops have done a great job in their area. They have changed Kandahar from being the most volatile place to the second most volatile place." The general, dressed in a sharp business suit rather than the green battle fatigues favoured by most Afghan commanders, said...

Canada to get help in Kandahar: U.S. commander Marines will help troops, search still on for more NATO troopsKABUL, Afghanistan -- Canada will get the additional NATO combat forces in Kandahar that Parliament is expected to demand if it approves a motion Thursday to extend the mission there to 2011, according to the White House and the U.S. commander of all 50,000 coalition forces in Afghanistan. Gen. Dan McNeill also told Canwest News Service in an exclusive interview Wednesday that U.S. Marines being deployed to southern Afghanistan in April for seven months, would help the Canadian battle group, fighting the...

Canadian soldier found dead at Kandahar base Updated Tue. Mar. 11 2008 11:05 PM ET CTV.ca News Staff Military officials are investigating the death of a 22-year-old soldier, whose body was found Tuesday in an accommodation room in Kandahar Air Field. The soldier has been identified as Bombardier Jeremie Ouellet, of the 1st Regiment, Royal Canadian Horse Artillery, based in Shilo, Man. Brig.-Gen. Guy Laroche told reporters that the soldier was found at 2:15 p.m. Tuesday and that his death "is not related to combat." But he could not specify how Ouellet died. "The Canadian Forces National Investigation Service has...

Excerpt - KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Feb 25 (Reuters) - A strong explosion shook Afghanistan's southern province of Kandahar on Monday, but it was not immediately clear what caused it and if there were any casualties, residents and the interior ministry said. The blast occurred to the west of the city of Kandahar, where more than 100 people, most of them civilians, were killed in a suspected suicide attack last week. ~ snip ~

via translation - KANDAHAR (Afghanistan) - Dozens of people were killed and dozens injured in an attack Sunday morning in Kandahar city in southern Afghanistan, said the spokesman of the Interior Ministry, Zemaraï Bashary . "The number of victims is very high. Dozens of people were killed and dozens were injured in the attack, said the spokesman. "It was a bomb attack, but at this stage we do not know if it was a suicide attack or other," he added.

They had big black beards, big warm smiles. They had a dozen young Afghan army trainees in tow, each with a grin to match. They didn't even have flak jackets, let alone a speck of armour on the two brown pickup trucks that kept their show on the road. They were French special forces, in an especially dodgy part of Afghanistan, where the French supposedly don't go. And they'd been there a while. It was late February 2006 – nearly two years ago now – but this close encounter came vividly to mind yesterday when talk of a possible French...

Friday December 7, 8:04 PM Taliban surrender Kandahar; Mullah Omar whereabouts a mystery The final curtain has been drawn on the Taliban regime as it began laying down arms in its last bastion of Kandahar amid conflicting reports on the whereabouts of its leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar. The Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) news agency quoted a local official Friday as saying that the surrender of the city was complete and power was handed over to a tribal council, but that Mullah Omar had vanished. The spokesman in Islamabad of the US-led anti-terror coalition, meanwhile, said Omar was close to ...

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Taliban supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar has abandoned his last Afghan stronghold of Kandahar and is no longer in the city, an Afghan news agency said on Friday. "After agreement with tribal leaders and commanders, Taliban leader Mullah Omar has disappeared from Kandahar and it is not known where he has gone," Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) quoted Haji Bashar, a former Mujahideen commander, as saying. "Mullah Omar is not in Kandahar and the national shura (council) does not know where he is. He has gone to some undisclosed place," Haji Bashar told AIP by satellite phone from ...

KANDAHAR AIRFIELD — In just under an hour, they have enough blood—and it is still warm. It’s a walking blood bank at the Canadian-led Role 3 Multinational Medical Unit (MMU). And while it doesn’t happen often, it does happen. They put out the call and quickly have a line of pre-screened donors snaking out the door. After another screening process to ensure their blood still meets all the requirements, their blood is drawn. Even after a few days, donors are still trickling in. Health Care Administrator Captain Lisa Baspaly says the hospital provides the best in medical care to all...

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Days of fierce fighting with NATO and Afghan forces left Taliban militants in control of one southern Afghan district and battling to take over another Tuesday, officials said. Taliban fighters seized Miya Nishin district in Kandahar province late Monday, provincial police chief Esmatullah Alizai said. Authorities were planning to retake the remote area. In neighboring Uruzgan province's Chora district — home to more than 100,000 people — fighting continued between NATO and Afghan forces and militants who attacked police posts in the province's main town on Saturday. Some officials reported dozens of civilian casualties. "It has been...

Excerpt - KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Taliban militants overran a district in southern Afghanistan and are pushing for control of another key area, sparking fierce clashes with NATO and Afghan forces that have left more than 100 people dead over three days, officials said Tuesday. Hundreds of Taliban fighters launched raids on police posts near the strategic town of Chora in Uruzgan province Saturday, forcing NATO, backed by fighter jets, to respond. Fighting was continuing Tuesday, and some officials reported there have been dozens of civilian casualties. Also late Monday, Taliban occupied Miya Nishin district in neighboring Kandahar province, said provincial...

BREAKING: Canadian soldier killed in Afghanistan~ CTV.ca News Staff, Updated Fri. May. 25 2007 9:32 AM ET Canadians lead major assault on the Taliban 'Hammer and anvil' operation designed to push fighters into an area controlled by coalition forces By Murray Campbell Toronto Globe and Mail Friday, May 25, 2007 MA'SUM GHAR, AFGHANISTAN -- Canadian troops today launched their most ambitious assault on the Taliban in nearly two months. Shortly after dawn, a multinational force including Canadians, Afghans, Portuguese and British, began an operation designed to flush out Taliban believed to be in the area near the Arghandab River. Illuminating...

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (CP) - The outgoing leader of NATO's southern command in Afghanistan says the country is growing more confident under the waning influence of the Taliban. Maj.-Gen Ton van Loon says religious scholars and elders in the south are beginning to speak out more freely against militants and extremists. He says the International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF, is also making progress in its efforts to train local Afghan police forces and the Afghan National Army. And he says there are reports that Taliban insurgents are being driven out of local communities by the people of Afghanistan themselves, with...

Leaders label slain soldiers 'truest heroes' Nearly 5,000 people packed an auditorium in New Brunswick to honour the eight. By CP London Free Press Thursday, April 26, 2007 OROMOCTO, N.B. -- Military leaders used a memorial service yesterday for eight slain Canadian soldiers to defend their mission in Afghanistan as a just and crucial cause. Standing on a stage featuring large photographs of the soldiers along with eight helmets sitting atop eight rifles, speakers hailed the men as Canada's "truest heroes" during a sombre service at Canadian Forces Base Gagetown. About 5,000 people packed an auditorium to pay tribute...

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, April 17 (Reuters) - A roadside bomb killed four people in a U.N. vehicle in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar on Tuesday, a Reuters cameraman said. Two of those killed in the blast appeared to be foreigners, he said. A U.N. spokesman said the report was being checked.

Read on for my interview with Frontpage Magazine’s 2003 "Man of the Year," retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Allen B. West. Currently stationed in Kandahar, Afghanistan, West is planning a congressional run in Florida later this year. He was kind enough to share his thoughts on military strategy, politics, race, media and the lessons of the ancient world. *** Q: You’re a retired Army officer currently working as a private contractor for the Department of Defense (DOD) in Kandahar, Afghanistan, advising and training the Afghan Army. To the extent you can divulge information, explain in more detail what you’re doing...

KABUL (AP) - Taliban fighters seeking to regain power in Afghanistan are taking advantage of a recent peace deal with the Pakistan government to dramatically increase attacks on NATO-led forces in eastern and southeastern Afghanistan, several American military officials said Tuesday. Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, said in an interview that Taliban attacks surged by 200 per cent in December, and a U.S. military intelligence officer said that since the peace deal went into effect Sept. 5 the number of attacks in the border area has grown by 300 per cent. Eikenberry did not explicitly...

Rebuilding Afghanistan, one project at a timeCanadians overcome obstacles to help By CHRISTIE BLATCHFORD Toronto Globe and Mail Saturday, December 16, 2006 Print Edition, Page A27 KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN -- The other day, a 34-year-old Canadian reservist named Corporal Shawn Denty got to deliver the medical supplies his friends and colleagues in Oakville, Ont., had collected after reading an e-mail about his distressing visit to Mirwais Hospital, the lone civilian hospital in Kandahar city. "I was shocked," Cpl. Denty wrote home. "The dirt, the dust . . . it was a shambles. There I was, standing in the middle of...

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia has extended for two more years the imprisonment of a terror suspect linked to al-Qaeda's attempts to produce chemical and biological weapons, saying he has more information about terrorist operations. Yazid Sufaat, a U.S.-trained biochemist and former Malaysian army captain, was arrested in late 2001 as he returned home from Afghanistan, where officials say he was working on a biological and chemical weapons program for al-Qaeda that was ended by the U.S.-led war. Since then, he has been held without trial under Malaysia's Internal Security Act on accusations of being a member of Jemaah...

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) - A suicide car bomber rammed a NATO military convoy in southern Afghanistan on Monday, killing three Afghan civilians and wounding one NATO soldier, officials said. Four Afghan civilians were also wounded in the blast that damaged one NATO military vehicle on the outskirts of Kandahar, said police officer Abdul Wasai. The attacker also died in the attack and the car he used was destroyed, Wasai said. Maj. Daryl Morrell, a spokesman for the NATO-led force, blamed the Taliban for the attack, saying the hardline militia wanted to disturb law and order in Kandahar province. He confirmed...

Media AdvisoryFallen Soldier Returning HomeMA 06-26 - October 10, 2006OTTAWA, Ont. — Our fallen soldier, Trooper Mark Andrew Wilson, a member of the Royal Canadian Dragoons (RCD), based at Canadian Forces Base Petawawa, is scheduled to return home to Canada tomorrow. Where: 8 Wing Trenton, Canadian Forces Base Trenton, Ontario. When: Wednesday, October 11, 7:55 p.m. What: At the wishes of the families, media are invited to view the arrival, though no interviews will be given. Present to pay their respects will be The Minister of National Defence, Gordon O’Connor, and other dignitaries. Trooper Mark Andrew Wilson was killed October...

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) - A suicide bomber on a motorbike attacked a Canadian military convoy in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday, but no troops were injured, officials said. One military vehicle was engulfed in flames after the bomber rammed into the convoy in western Kandahar city, said Maj. Daryl Morrell, a NATO-led force spokesman. The bomber was killed in the blast, but no alliance troops were hurt, Morrell said. Insurgents have increasingly used suicide bombers in their campaign against foreign and Afghan government troops throughout the country this year. A suicide bomber in the capital, Kabul, killed 12 people and wounded...

StatementStatement by the Minister of National Defence on the Death of Private Josh KlukieNR-06.071 - September 30, 2006OTTAWA – The Honourable Gordon O'Connor, Minister of National Defence, issued the following statement today on the death of Private Josh Klukie: “On behalf of the Defence family and our brave men and women in uniform I extend my deepest sympathies to the family and friends of Private Josh Klukie. This brave soldier gave his life providing hope for a brighter future, free from hardship and struggle, to the people of Afghanistan. Canada is in Afghanistan helping to stabilize and reconstruct the country....

OTTAWA - Even though NATO failed to find an additional 2,500 troops for Afghanistan after a major meeting Friday, Canada's defence minister says alliance countries on the front lines plan to keep the pressure on other less willing partners. "I don't say I'm disappointed. You continue to put pressure on people. My sense is they are going to come across as the pressure continues," Gordon O'Connor said Friday in a telephone interview from Portoroz, Slovenia, after attending the NATO defence ministers meeting. O'Connor said the fact that upwards of 12,000 American troops have joined the NATO mission would bolster the...

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (CP) - The end of summer often brings more calm to Afghanistan, but the weekend start of a Muslim holy month combined with a Taliban intent on revenge may bring a spike in violence for Canadian soldiers. Canadian troops are still days away from the end of September, already their deadliest month in Afghanistan since their presence in the country began in 2002. Last spring, military officials predicted an upsurge in violence as temperatures rose into the traditional Afghan summer season for battle. Twenty of Canada's 37 deaths in Afghanistan took place in the summer of 2006, including...

CFB TRENTON, Ont. -- Four grief-stricken families received their fallen loved ones today during a military ceremony to mark the return of this country's latest casualties in Afghanistan. Four flag-draped caskets were loaded into four black hearses on the tarmac of this eastern Ontario military base as fathers, mothers, wives and children took comfort in each other's embraces. Each casket was removed from a military airbus in turn and escorted by military pallbearers led by a padre as a piper played the stirring lament "Flowers of the Forest." Family members were joined on the tarmac by dignitaries, including Defence Minister...

Taliban fighters in a pocket of Kandahar province in Afghanistan "paid a very heavy price" for going on the offensive against North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) forces, and the NATO response, called Operation Medusa, resulted in a Taliban retreat, General James Jones, commander of European Command and Supreme Allied Commander Europe for NATO, said during a Pentagon briefing on Wednesday. The arrival of 6,000 NATO troops in Kandahar was "a culture shock to the region," and the Taliban "decided to make a test case of this region," Jones said. While NATO forces were surprised by the level of violence, "what...

WASHINGTON (RTRS): Nato’s southern Afghanistan offensive this month killed 1,000 to 1,500 Taleban fighters, a large chunk of the entire force, passing a major test on the battlefield, its top operational commander said on Wednesday. Gen. James Jones, Nato’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe, also said alliance allies have committed to provide at least 2,000 of the roughly 2,000-2,500 extra troops he sought to bolster the 20,000-strong Nato force in Afghanistan. “There are some countries that I’m not free to announce that are going to make some contributions in the near future,” the US Marine Corps general told a Pentagon briefing....

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (CP) - Two Afghan bystanders were wounded Saturday after a Canadian soldier fired a warning shot toward a vehicle approaching an army convoy. A man suffered minor cuts from flying debris and a teenaged boy had surgery Saturday to remove a piece of bullet from his leg. Neither of their injuries were considered life-threatening. The boy's angry father, Faeed Ifaq, wondered why Canadians hurt Afghan civilians in their efforts to stay safe from suicide and roadside bombs. "This is not the way to operate, my boy has done nothing," Ifaq said as he waited for his son to...

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (CP) - Bibi Sagima took a humiliating seat on a busy downtown street Friday, putting out her hand to beg for food with her eight-year-old son while clinging to faded hopes that her husband is still alive. Sagima and her boy, Ghami, are two of the thousands of refugees who poured from the Panjwaii district after the Canadian army led an offensive there to root out Taliban insurgents. Local officials estimate some 1,500 families left Panjwaii and surrounding areas to avoid fighting and intense bombardment by Canadian and NATO forces backing the assault. Sagima took refuge with a...

OTTAWA (CP) - Canada has loaned its Dutch comrades five heavily-armoured Nyala patrol vehicles for use in southern Afghanistan. And in an exchange steeped in irony, our European ally has offered up flight time on helicopters - some of which more than likely belonged to Canada and were sold to the Netherlands by the Mulroney government in 1991. A defence spokesman said the loan of the armoured vehicles will not affect the army's ability to carry out operations - nor will it imperil Canadian troops who routinely face roadside bomb attacks. "It's a temporary loan until the Dutch are ready...

PANJWAII, Afghanistan (CP) - Canadian troops collected Taliban weapons and nuggets of intelligence Tuesday as the battle to enforce NATO control over the restive Panjwaii district entered a final phase. Afghan and Canadian soldiers have a last push and weeks of mop-up ahead, but the major battle they expected against hardcore Taliban fighters has dissolved for the moment. For the third straight day, soldiers encountered little resistance as they approached the southern front in this fight. As the sun set, a trio of Taliban fighters put up a brief skirmish against a combined force of U.S., Canadian and Afghan troops....

More than 90 talibans killed in the south of Afghanistan KANDAHAR (Afghanistan) - More than 90 talibans were killed Sunday in the south of Afghanistan, where the forces of NATO continue a major offensive to dislodge the rebels of one their bastions, one learned Monday near a spokesman from NATO in Afghanistan. The 92 killed rebels Sunday carry, according to NATO, to approximately 512 the number of talibans died in the combat which oppose them to the forces Afghan NATO and of safety since September 2 in the district of Panjwayi, with only 35 kilometers in the west of...

PANJWAII, Afghanistan (CP) - Warrant Officer Jim Murnaghan's quick wisecracks and reassuring smile disappear with the distant pop of the Taliban rocket ignition. When the rocket-propelled grenade roars in from an insurgent fighter, Murnaghan's eyes become two gaping saucers. His soft laugh switches to a growl, but he doesn't have to yell twice to get attention from his boys or the reporter who has been his shadow for several days on the frontlines of Operation Medusa. "Get down!" he yells, and we get down instantly. The hiss becomes a whistle and then a scream just a few feet overhead. "Under...

WARSAW, Poland (CP) - NATO forces are meeting more resistance than anticipated in southern Afghanistan, an alliance general said Saturday, stressing that at least 2,000 more troops were needed to quell the insurgency. Canadian Gen. Ray Henault, chairman of the NATO military committee, will appeal formally to the alliance's council Monday for member states to commit another 2,000-2,500 soldiers to confront the resurgent Taliban guerrillas, he said after closed-door talks with NATO military chiefs. "Afghanistan is the most complex mission NATO has ever undertaken," Henault said. "Our collective assessment is that we are satisfied with the military-related progress to date,...

PANJWAII, Afghanistan (CP) - Insurgents have been using an unguarded route to slip through the Canadian-led siege of this Taliban stronghold and join the fight, a key local leader and ally of international forces said Wednesday. While NATO has claimed 700 Taliban are trapped in the area, locals say there is an easy escape route to the west that has gone unguarded by Canadian and Afghan troops and allowed insurgents to resupply. Far from fleeing, an unknown number of insurgents are joining the battle against Canadian troops and their allies, according to Haji Kheerdin, the Zhari District elder. "One side...

PANJWAI DISTRICT, AFGHANISTAN — Canadian troops pushed deep into the warren of fields in Panjwai district Wednesday morning, hunting Taliban under bright moonlight after enduring hours of co-ordinated attacks by the insurgents. The soldiers crept forward on foot, into terrain so difficult that armoured vehicles could not advance for fear of getting stuck in the rutted fields, irrigation trenches and dry canals. It was the first major incursion by either side in the past 24 hours, in the continuing struggle for control of Panjwai district. Operation Medusa, launched four days ago to control the volatile region southwest of Kandahar city,...

PANJWAII, Afghanistan (CP) - Tracer rounds and exploding rockets lit up the sky Tuesday as Taliban insurgents launched brazen, co-ordinated attacks on Canadian armoured vehicles, wounding five soldiers in a battlefield west of Kandahar. A volley of eight to 10 rockets or mortars landed near a light armoured vehicle in the Panjwaii area, just north of the Arghandab River, where Canadians have fought dug-in Taliban insurgents. The five injured soldiers were evacuated to Kandahar Airfield, hours after five colleagues who died in weekend fighting were loaded onto a cargo plane destined for Canada. The injured men were all expected to...