In a most dreadful attack on NATO force fighting against Taliban insurgents in about one year, at least six Canadian troops were killed and two other wounded in southern Afghanistan on Sunday after a devastating roadside-bomb explosion detonated their vehicle.
The distressing incident took place west of Kandahar, which is a stronghold of the Taliban and al-Qaeda . The recent casualties mount the Canadian death toll to 51 after the deployment of Canadian troops in Afghanistan in 2002. Col. Mike Cessford, a Canadian commander, asserted,
The investigation is very, very nascent...so it is premature at this stage to speculate what it was. Still very early but it is our belief that it was an improvised explosive device.
The Canadian military has released the names of five of the six Canadian soldiers that includes Sgt. Donald Lucas, Cpl. Christopher Paul Stannix, Cpl. Aaron E. Williams, Pte. Kevin Vincent Kennedy and Pte. David Robert Greenslade, whereas, the family members of the sixth troop requested to keep his name anonymous.
In another incident, a NATO troop was killed and another wounded in a similar attack in the unstable southern part of the nation.
The year 2006 was the bloodiest, with increased insurgencies by Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters, since they were thrown out of control by the US led coalition forces in 2001.
Britain has assured another 1,400 soldiers, a larger number to be deployed in Afghanistan than in Iraq, whereas, the United States will deploy an extra 3,200 troops.
The US and Britain may have promised the troop escalation in Afghanistan in the days to come, another blood-spattered year is on the cards after the Taliban and al-Qaeda have regrouped in Waziristan, tribal area of north-west Pakistan close to the Afghan border.
