Death toll in Afghanistan: and how many more to come

Death toll in Afghanistan
CanWest News Service March 12

Forty-five Canadian soldiers and one diplomat have been killed since the Canadian military deployed to Afghanistan in early 2002.

April 17, 2002: Sgt. Marc D. Leger, Cpl. Ainsworth Dyer, Pte. Richard A. Green and Pte. Nathan Smith were killed by friendly fire when an American fighter jet dropped a laser-guided 225-kilogram bomb on the soldiers during a training exercise near Kandahar. All served with the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry Battle Group.

Oct. 2, 2003: Sgt. Robert Alan Short and Cpl. Robbie Christopher Beerenfenger were killed and three others injured when their Iltis jeep struck a roadside bomb outside Camp Julien near Kabul. They were from the Third Battalion Royal Canadian Regiment.

Jan. 27, 2004: Cpl. Jamie Murphy died and three soldiers were injured by a suicide bomber while patrolling near Camp Julien in an Iltis jeep. All were members of the Royal Canadian Regiment.

Nov. 24, 2005: Pte. Braun Scott Woodfield, Royal Canadian Regiment, was killed in a traffic accident involving his light-armoured vehicle (LAV III) northeast of Kandahar. Three others soldiers suffered serious injuries.

Jan. 15, 2006: Diplomat Glyn Berry was killed and three soldiers injured by a suicide bomber in Kandahar. They were patrolling in a G Wagon.

March 2, 2006: Cpl. Paul Davis died and six others were injured when their LAV III collided with a civilian taxi just west of Kandahar during a routine patrol. The soldiers were with the 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry.

March 5, 2006: Master Cpl. Timothy Wilson of Grande Prairie, Alta., succumbed to injuries suffered in the LAV III crash on March 2 in Afghanistan. Wilson died in hospital in Germany.

March 28-29, 2006: Pte. Robert Costall was killed in a firefight with Taliban insurgents in the desert north of Kandahar. A U.S. soldier and a number of Afghan troops also died and three Canadians were wounded. Costall was a member of 1st Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, based in Edmonton.

April 22, 2006: Four soldiers were killed when their armoured vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb near Gombad, north of Kandahar. They were Cpl. Matthew Dinning, stationed at Petawawa, Ont.; Bombardier Myles Mansell, based in Victoria; Lieut. William Turner, stationed in Edmonton, and Cpl. Randy Payne of CFB Wainwright, Alta.

May 17, 2006: Capt. Nichola Goddard, a combat engineer with the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery and Canada's first female combat death, killed during battle against Taliban forces in the Panjwai region, 24 kilometres west of Kandahar.

July 9, 2006: Cpl. Anthony Joseph Boneca, a reservist, with the Lake Superior Scottish Regiment based in Thunder Bay, Ont., was killed as Canadian military and Afghan security forces were pushing through an area west of Kandahar City that had been a hotbed of Taliban activity.

July 22, 2006: A suicide bomber blows himself up in Kandahar, killing two Canadian soldiers and wounded eight more. Cpl. Francisco Gomez, an anti-armour specialist from the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry in Edmonton, was driving the Bison armoured vehicle targeted by the bomber's vehicle. Cpl. Jason Patrick Warren of the Black Watch in Montreal was riding in the vehicle.

Aug. 3, 2006: Cpl. Christopher Jonathan Reid, with the 1st Battalion of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, based in Edmonton, died overnight when a Canadian Light Armoured Vehicle, or LAV-3, was struck by a roadside bomb. Later the same say, three more Canadian soldiers were killed during a separate attack with rocket propelled grenades near Kandahar city. According to a DND website late Thursday, Sgt. Vaughn Ingram of the 1st Battalion Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, and Cpl. Bryce Jeffrey Keller of the 1st Battalion Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry were also killed. The fourth dead soldier was not identified. Several other Canadian soldiers were injured in the attack.

Aug. 5, 2006: Master Cpl. Raymond Arndt, of the Edmonton-based Loyal Edmonton Regiment, was killed Aug. 5 when a G-Wagon making a supply run collided with a civilian truck.

Aug. 9, 2006: Master Cpl. Jeffrey Scott Walsh, based out of Shilo, Man. with the second batallion of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, was conducting routine operations along Highway One near the Zhari district centre, about 20 kilometres west of Kandahar city was he was shot in a "weapons related accident" unrelated to enemy fire about noon Wednesday, just days after arriving in Kandahar to begin his tour of duty.

August 11, 2006: Cpl. Andrew James Eykelenboom with the 1st Field Ambulance based in Edmonton, was killed when his vehicle was hit by a suicide bomber.

August 22, 2006: Canadian Corp. David Braun, a recently arrived soldier with the second battalion of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, was killed by a suicide bomber outside the gates of Camp Nathan Smith in Kandahar City. The soldier, in his 20s, was a native of Raymore, Sask. Three other Canadian soldiers were injured in the afternoon attack.

September 3, 2006: Warrant Officer Richard Francis Nolan, Warrant Officer Frank Robert Mellish, Sergeant Shane Stachnik, and Pte. William Jonathan James Cushley, all based at CFB Petawawa, west of Ottawa, were among four soldiers killed in fierce fighting in southern Afghanistan. Several more soldiers were wounded.

September 4, 2006: Pte. Mark Anthony Graham, a member of 1st Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment, based at CFB Petawawa, Ont., killed and dozens of others wounded in a friendly fire incident involving an American A-10 Warthog aircraft.

September 18, 2006: Four soldiers were killed when a suicide bomber riding a bicycle detonated explosives in the Panjwai area. Cpl Shane Keating, Cpl Keith Morley and Pte. David Byers, 22, all members of the 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry from Shilo, Man and Cpl. Glen Arnold, a member of the 2 Field Ambulance, from Petawawa, Ont. were killed in the attack that wounded several others.

September 29, 2006: Pte. Josh Klukie was killed by an improvised explosive device, while he was conducting a foot patrol in the Panjwaii district in Kandahar province.

October 3, 2006: Sgt. Craig Gillam and Cpl. Robert Mitchell of the Royal Canadian Dragoons, based in Petawawa, Ont., killed in series of mortar, rocket attacks just west of Kandahar city

October 7, 2006: Mark Andrew Wilson of the Royal Canadian Dragoons, based in Petawawa, Ont., was killed when his armoured vehicle was hit by a roadside explosion in the Panjwaii district.

October 14, 2006: A storm of gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades killed Sgt. Darcy Tedford of Charles Company, 1st Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment, based in Petawawa, Ont. and Pte. Blake Williamson, also based in Petawawa, in southern Afghanistan. Three others are expected to recover from their wounds.

November 27, 2006:Two Canadian soldiers, Chief Warrant Officer Albert Storm and Sgt. Maj. Bob Girouard, were killed on the outskirts of Kandahar on Monday when a suicide car bomber attacked a convoy of military vehicles. The soldiers were members of the Royal Canadian Regiment based in Petawawa, Ont. They were in an armoured personnel carrier that had just left the Kandahar Airfield base when a vehicle drove up to it and detonated explosives.

March 6, 2007: Cpl. Kevin Megeney, 25, a reservist from Stellarton, N.S., and a member of 1st Battalion Nova Scotia Highlanders is the 45th Canadian military death in Afghanistan since 2002. Megeney was shot through the chest and left lung in what's believed to be a "friendly fire" incident.