GTcarz - Automotive forums for cars & trucks. - Two More Canadians Killed In Afghanistan

Canada has lost two more of its bravest and boldest.
A pair of Canadian soldiers lost their lives Tuesday, after a grenade attack surprised our troops near Kandahar. Five others were wounded.

The latest incident occurred in a place where our forces believed the Taliban had been wiped out. Canadians had fought hard to take the area in a fierce battle they won just two weeks ago.

But pockets of resistance they hadn't expected surprised them in the town of Sperwan when a handful of renegades began firing rocket-propelled grenades at our convoys.

Two men, identified as Sergeant Craig Gillam (far left) and Corporal Robert Mitchell (near right), were fatally wounded in the offensive. Their hometowns are not immediately available. Both were with the Royal Canadian Dragoons.

The small group was providing security for road construction crews when the explosions hit.

"Almost immediately other forces responded to it, treated and medevaced the casualties, and carried on with the operation," reports Lt.-Col. Omer Lavoie, the ground-level commander of Canada's fighting force.

The latest casualties occurred exactly a month since the launch of the much-vaunted "Operation Medusa", an initiative that Canadian officials boasted had killed hundreds of the enemy and rendered them unable to mount any major attacks.

Lavoie insists that despite the outcome of this battle, that's still the case. "They've learned they can't take us on head-to-head in a conventional battle, so they're going back to typical insurgent tactics, (roadside bombs) and hit-and-run tactics," he maintains.

Several other Canadian companies came under fire on Tuesday. Insurgents fired mortars, rockets and automatic weapons in a morning offensive but no one was hurt.

A few hours later, a suicide bomber on a motorcycle attacked a Canadian convoy, setting a G-wagon jeep aflame. The suicide bomber died but no one else was injured.

"They're smart," admits Warrant Officer Ray Macfarlane. "I wouldn't say I respect them, but they've learned to play to our weaknesses."

Gillam and Mitchell become the 38th and 39th casualties of war in an effort that many Canadians are starting to question.

Two of the remaining wounded men are reported to be in serious but stable condition and all the injured were taken to the main coalition base in Kandahar.

Two U.S. soldiers were also hurt, but it's not clear if they suffered their injuries during the same skirmish.

The deaths come as the body of the 37th Canadian killed in combat came home. Pte. Josh Klukie made his final journey to C.F.B. Trenton just after 8pm. He perished when he stepped on an insurgent's explosive device while on foot patrol in Kandahar province on Friday.