4 Canadian troops wounded and 2 Dutch killed in Afghanistan
Source: alalam,ir, 14-01-2008
OTTAWA -Four Canadian soldiers have been wounded when a landmine
exploded during a mine removal operation on a road near Kandahar in southern Afghanistan, Canadian media reported.
The incident in Zangabad took place as Canadian opposition chief Stephane Dion and his Liberal Party number two, Michael Ignatieff, were in Kandahar to visit Canadian troops battling Taliban rebels alongside US and British forces.
The day before, the two opposition leaders called for the Canadian mission to shift to development missions instead of combat.
Canada's parliament has voted to keep its 2,500 troops in Afghanistan until 2009 while considering its future policy.
Seventy-six Canadian troops have been killed in Afghanistan since the 2001 ouster of the Taliban.
Dion and Ignatieff were received in Kabul by President Hamid Karzai, parliamentary speaker Yunus Qanuni and NATO ambassadors.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper, a Conservative, recently reiterated his support for the military mission until 2011.
But the mission has currently an official expiration date of February 2009.
Meanwhile, Dutch troops in Afghanistan killed two of their own men during a nighttime battle, and separately killed two allied Afghan soldiers they mistook for enemies, the Defense Ministry said.
"Darkness, the weather conditions and the confused situation'' played a role in the mistake over the weekend in the southern Afghan province of Uruzgan, Gen. Dick Berlijn, the top Dutch military commander, said in a statement.
Opposing fighters were in between Dutch units during the fighting Saturday several kilometers northwest of Camp Hadrian, near Deh Rawod.
The two Afghan soldiers, who were not "recognizably in uniform,'' also were killed Saturday after they approached a wounded Dutch soldier six miles to the south, Berlijn said.
In the most famous friendly fire case of the Afghan conflict, Pat Tillman, a former US football player who became an Army ranger, was killed in April 2004 by fellow troops near the Pakistani border.
In August, a US warplane mistakenly dropped a bomb on British troops after they called for air support in Afghanistan, killing three soldiers and seriously wounding two others.
And in 2002, four Canadian soldiers were killed when a US F-16 pilot on a night patrol dropped a 500-pound bomb on Canadian troops conducting a live-fire training exercise near the southern city of Kandahar.
The pilot apparently mistook the Canadians for enemy forces and thought he was acting in self-defense, US officials have said.
Around 1,650 Dutch are serving in Uruzgan province as part of the NATO mission there.
Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende announced in November that the Dutch would extend their mission in Afghanistan for two years after it was due to expire in August 2008, reducing troop levels by 200 to 300 soldiers.
Saturday's death brings the Dutch death toll in Afghanistan to 14.
OTTAWA -Four Canadian soldiers have been wounded when a landmine
exploded during a mine removal operation on a road near Kandahar in southern Afghanistan, Canadian media reported.
The incident in Zangabad took place as Canadian opposition chief Stephane Dion and his Liberal Party number two, Michael Ignatieff, were in Kandahar to visit Canadian troops battling Taliban rebels alongside US and British forces.
The day before, the two opposition leaders called for the Canadian mission to shift to development missions instead of combat.
Canada's parliament has voted to keep its 2,500 troops in Afghanistan until 2009 while considering its future policy.
Seventy-six Canadian troops have been killed in Afghanistan since the 2001 ouster of the Taliban.
Dion and Ignatieff were received in Kabul by President Hamid Karzai, parliamentary speaker Yunus Qanuni and NATO ambassadors.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper, a Conservative, recently reiterated his support for the military mission until 2011.
But the mission has currently an official expiration date of February 2009.
Meanwhile, Dutch troops in Afghanistan killed two of their own men during a nighttime battle, and separately killed two allied Afghan soldiers they mistook for enemies, the Defense Ministry said.
"Darkness, the weather conditions and the confused situation'' played a role in the mistake over the weekend in the southern Afghan province of Uruzgan, Gen. Dick Berlijn, the top Dutch military commander, said in a statement.
Opposing fighters were in between Dutch units during the fighting Saturday several kilometers northwest of Camp Hadrian, near Deh Rawod.
The two Afghan soldiers, who were not "recognizably in uniform,'' also were killed Saturday after they approached a wounded Dutch soldier six miles to the south, Berlijn said.
In the most famous friendly fire case of the Afghan conflict, Pat Tillman, a former US football player who became an Army ranger, was killed in April 2004 by fellow troops near the Pakistani border.
In August, a US warplane mistakenly dropped a bomb on British troops after they called for air support in Afghanistan, killing three soldiers and seriously wounding two others.
And in 2002, four Canadian soldiers were killed when a US F-16 pilot on a night patrol dropped a 500-pound bomb on Canadian troops conducting a live-fire training exercise near the southern city of Kandahar.
The pilot apparently mistook the Canadians for enemy forces and thought he was acting in self-defense, US officials have said.
Around 1,650 Dutch are serving in Uruzgan province as part of the NATO mission there.
Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende announced in November that the Dutch would extend their mission in Afghanistan for two years after it was due to expire in August 2008, reducing troop levels by 200 to 300 soldiers.
Saturday's death brings the Dutch death toll in Afghanistan to 14.
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