Two Canadian soldiers wounded; terrorists arrested in Afghanistan

Deutsche Presse Agentur
Published: Tuesday August 22, 2006

Kabul- Two Canadian soldiers were wounded when their convoy was ambushed by suspected Taliban fighters in southern Afghanistan while US-led coalition and Afghan forces arrested three suspected terrorists in the east part of the country, officials said Tuesday. The Canadian soldiers, who were part of NATO's deployment in the country, were on their way to the airport in Kandahar city when they were ambushed in Kandahar province's Zharai district, said Major Quentin Innis, a spokesman in the region for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

The soldiers returned fire and continued their trip, Innis said, adding that he was unable to provide the Taliban's casualties.

He said the wounded soldiers were being treated at the hospital at the Kandahar airfield and were in stable condition.

Attacks on NATO and Afghan forces have been on the rise since the alliance took command of security for six southern provinces, including Helmand, from the US-led military coalition in late July. More than a dozen ISAF soldiers, mainly British and Canadians, and scores of Taliban fighters have been killed in Taliban-led violence in the region since then.

Meanwhile, Afghan and US forces arrested three people Tuesday near Paru Kheyl village in eastern Khost province in a raid aimed at capturing "a known al-Qaeda facilitator," the coalition said in a statement.

"Credible intelligence linked the targeted individual to suspected terrorist activities and attacks against the Afghan and coalition forces in Khost province," the statement said.

Weapons and ammunition were confiscated, including automatic and bolt-action rifles, a shotgun and ammunition-carrying chest racks, the statement said.

No shots were fired, and no Afghan or coalition forces were injured during the operation, it said.

In another incident, two Afghan nomads were wounded Monday when rockets believed to have been fired by the Taliban hit their encampment in the eastern city of Gardiz, another coalition statement said.

The bloodshed followed a major weekend battle that left more than 70 suspected Taliban dead in a district town of Kandahar province, according to Afghan officials.

More than 1,700 people, mostly insurgents, have died this year in Taliban-led violence primarily in the southern provinces.

© 2006 DPA - Deutsche Presse-Agenteur