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KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (CP) - Officials say a report that Canadian soldiers have been abducted in Afghanistan is false and all troops have been accounted for.
The Prime Minister's Office announced Wednesday that after a head count, all 2,300 Canadian personnel and another 4,200 coalition troops in the war-torn country were safe.
The head count was conducted after Al-Jazeera and Reuters reported Taliban claims that it had abducted several Canadian or other coalition soldiers.
Maj. Scott Lundy, spokesman for the multinational brigade based in Kandahar, said it's not the first the time the Taliban have made such false claims.
Al Jazeera was reportedly no longer broadcasting the story by Wednesday afternoon.
While some Canadian troops are deployed in remote locations, most are stationed at the large base at Kandahar.
The mission in Afghanistan is an increasingly dangerous one, with Canadian troops engaging in open firefights with Taliban forces and routinely fending off rocket attacks and suicide bombers.
Sixteen Canadian soldiers and a Canadian diplomat have died in Afghanistan.