Two Canadian soldiers killed, three injured in Afghanistan

April 11, 2007

Military officials have confirmed that two Canadian soldiers were killed in two separate road-side bombings targeting the same convoy within hours of each other in southern Afghanistan Wednesday night. The bombings occurred about 38 kilometres west of Kandahar said Colonel Mike Cessford, deputy commander of Task Force Afghanistan in a late-night briefing.

Another three were injured but according to reports they are in stable condition. A Canadian Forces tanker truck was damaged. All the soldiers are from CFB Petawawa in Petawawa, Ontario. A bomb also exploded at around noon but no one sustained injuries.

The two road-side bombings took place in the same general area, about a kilometre apart. In the first incident a soldier was injured, while the second road-side bomb, approximately two hours later, killed the two soldiers. The names of the dead soldiers are being withheld until the families are notified. Colonel Cessford provided the details to reporters in Kandahar Thursday morning. "There was a significant separation between the two incidents," said Cessford. "These were two separate vehicles from two separate areas that were in roughly the same area."

Six Canadian soldiers that were killed in southern Afghanistan last Sunday were returned to CFB Trenton in Trenton, Ontario today.

53 Canadian soldiers have been killed in the war-torn country since 2002.