cnd military fatality, afgan

A Canadian armoured vehicle ran off a road Thursday in Kandahar, killing one soldier and injuring seven -- two of them critically, Canadian military officials said.
Canadian Press, March 02, 2006

Four of the soldiers were airlifted from the site of the accident by helicopter, while the others were taken in an ambulance by road.

All were eventually transported to Kandahar Airfield, the large U.S.-run military base that's also housing most of Canada's 2,200 troops in southern Afghanistan.

One soldier died upon arrival, two were in critical condition while the remaining five were in stable condition, said Lieut. Mark MacIntyre.

John Morris, a spokesman for the Department of National Defence in Ottawa, said the casualties were ``believed to be the result of a vehicle accident.''

It was not immediately clear what caused the accident, but officials said terrorist activity was not suspected at this time. The identities of the dead and wounded had not yet been released.

The crash appears to be similar to one last November in which a Canadian soldier was killed and four others were wounded. They were travelling in an armoured vehicle that also ran off a road near Kandahar.

The soldier killed Thursday is the 10th Canadian to die in Afghanistan since 2002.

Four soldiers were killed by friendly fire, two by anti-tank mines, one at the hand of a suicide bomber, one in another road accident, and a senior Canadian diplomat was killed in January in a suicide bomb attacking.

The 2,200 Canadian troops in southern Afghanistan are led by Canadian Brig.-Gen. David Fraser, who took command of a multinational brigade in the Kandahar region earlier this week.
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