Treacherous Afghan road claims 2 more

Work will continue despite Canadian casualties, deputy commander says

Jane Armstrong, Globe & Mail, 16 Oct 06

With a report from Canadian Press

KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN -- Canadian soldiers will continue to punch a north-south road through southern Afghanistan despite the mounting death toll.

Two soldiers were killed Saturday while patrolling the increasingly dangerous road construction project where Canadians have become prey for insurgents.

"Although were are saddened by the tragic loss . . . we will not cease in our reconstruction and development activities," said Colonel Fred Lewis, deputy commander of Canada's Task Force Afghanistan."

Sergeant Darcy Tedford and Private Blake Williamson, both of the 1st Battalion Royal Canadian Regiment, became the fifth and sixth Canadians to die on the four-kilometre stretch of unfinished road since September.

Ages were not immediately available for Sgt. Tedford, based at CFB Petawawa, and Pte. Williamson from Ottawa.

Two other soldiers were injured Saturday afternoon when insurgents attacked the Canadians with rocket-propelled grenades and gunfire in the strife-torn Panjwai region, about 20 kilometres west of Kandahar.

The soldiers are helping to build a north-south road that will eventually link Panjwai's isolated villages and farms to southern Afghanistan's busy east-west Highway 1.

The new, widened road -- called Route Summit by the military -- replaces a narrow dirt track that wends through villages and farmland. It has a 100-metre-wide right of way, which will provide good sightlines for security purposes, military commanders say.

"If you look at the wide-open space and visibility it will provide the Afghan national defence forces, it all makes sense," said Colonel Simon Hetherington, commander of Canada's Provincial Reconstruction Team.

In Saturday's attack, it's believed a rocket-propelled grenade burst over top of an armoured vehicle, Col. Lewis said.

Dutch Apache attack helicopters were called in and a near-three-hour gun battle between the Canadians and Taliban fighters ensued, Col. Lewis added.

Yesterday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper issued a statement expressing sorrow at the deaths.

"It is with courage and heroism that Sgt. Darcy Tedford and Pte. Blake Williamson have sacrificed their life to bring stability, democracy and peace in Afghanistan," Mr. Harper said.

Trooper Mark Andrew Wilson of the Royal Canadian Dragoons was killed on Oct. 7 when his armoured vehicle hit a roadside bomb.

Four days earlier, Sergeant Craig Gillam and Corporal Robert Mitchell, also of the Royal Canadian Dragoons, were killed in an ambush while they guarded a construction crew on the same road.

The road is in the same region where Canadians led a massive offensive against the Taliban last month, killing hundreds of insurgents, according to NATO.

But the insurgents who retreated last month have regrouped.

The military and international non-governmental organizations say road building is a crucial part of Afghanistan's recovery from 30 years of war.

Saturday's casualty toll capped a bloody weekend for coalition troops and civilians in southern Afghanistan.

On Friday morning, an American soldier was killed and another injured when a suicide bomber in a car rammed an explosives-packed van into an American convoy in Kandahar city. The blast killed nine Afghan civilians and injured eight.

NATO troops who were called in to secure the bomb site later shot and killed an Afghan man who they say approached the cordoned area but refused to back away despite warnings in English and Pashto. NATO is investigating the shooting.