OTTAWA – The names of the two Canadian soldiers killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan on April 11, 2007 are as follows:
Master Corporal Allan Stewart, The Royal Canadian Dragoons, based in Petawawa, Ont.; and,
Trooper Patrick James Pentland, The Royal Canadian Dragoons, based in Petawawa, Ont.
These two soldiers were killed and two others were injured, one seriously, when a roadside bomb exploded near their vehicle earlier today. The incident occurred shortly before 8 p.m. Kandahar time, approximately 38 km west of Kandahar City. The soldiers had been assisting another vehicle that had been struck by a roadside bomb earlier in the day, one soldier suffered only minor injuries in this earlier attack.
This brings to eight the number of soldiers killed in the past four days by improvised explosive devices (IEDs). According to some news reports, there has been a noticeable increase in the number of IEDs.
"Starting about a week ago we have been finding IEDs on all the roads around here pretty much every single day," said Maj. Steve Graham of the Royal Canadian Dragoons.
"The fact there has been a spike of IEDs tells me that the places we are going and things we have been doing are starting to hit closer to the areas the Taliban have been working in."
Roadside bombs, random rocket attacks and suicide bombers are the main dangers Canadian troops face so far this year in their efforts to bring security to Kandahar province.
The job of finding and disposing of IEDs is dangerous as this story from the Globe attests.
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