Canadian killed in Afghanistan

[Ethyl]

One Canadian was killed and three others were wounded after a suicide car bomber struck their military convoy in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar on Sunday.
Prime Minister Paul Martin confirmed the Canadian casualties during a campaign stop in Laval, Que. He said no names were being released at this time because not all of the families have been notified.

"This morning, there was a tragic incident near Kandahar, in Afghanistan, where one Canadian was killed and three others were injured," he said. "On behalf of all Canadians, I want to express my condolences to the family of the individual who was killed, and our prayers and best wishes to the family of the deceased and to the families of the injured."

A military source has confirmed to that the dead Canadian was a civilian. The blast also killed two Afghan civilians and wounded at least 10 others.

The attack took place around 1 p.m. local time, just inside the city limits. A sedan swerved into the convoy and exploded, witnesses said.

The bomb was strong enough to blow the armoured vehicle carrying the soldiers off the side of the road, said Tom Coghlan, a British freelance reporter for The Daily Telegraph. Witnesses said the blast also blew out windows in nearby buildings.

The injured were airlifted from the scene to the main U.S. air base in Kandahar, Coghlan said.

This was the 15th suicide bomb attack in Afghanistan in the past three months.

Last December two Canadian soldiers were injured when a bomb detonated under their vehicle in southern Afghanistan.

Pte. Ryan Crawford and Capt. Manuel Panchana-Moya both suffered broken bones.

Canada has about 650 troops in Afghanistan, nearly all in Kandahar. There are plans to increase that number to 2,000 soldiers next month.

http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2006/01/15/afghan-deaths060115.html

[Ethyl]

Canadian diplomat dies, 3 soldiers injured in Afghanistan blast
Last Updated Sun, 15 Jan 2006 13:56:01 EST
CBC News
A senior Canadian diplomat was killed in Afghanistan on Sunday and three other Canadians were injured after a suicide car bomber struck their military convoy.

The Canadians were travelling in this "G wagon."
Two of those injured are in hospital in critical condition with life-threatening injuries, Lt.-Gen. Marc Dumais told reporters at a briefing in Ottawa.

The diplomat has been identified as Glyn Berry, 59. He was the political director of the provincial reconstruction team in Afghanistan.

The injured are Pte. William Salikan, Cpl. Jeffrey Bailey, and Master Cpl. Paul Franklin.

The attack happened in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar.

Dumais said the blast also killed two Afghan civilians and wounded at least 10 others.

"The convoy was travelling about one kilometre southeast of Kandahar when a bomb exploded near their vehicle."

Dumais said the attack happened at about 1:00 p.m. local time in Kandahar.

"The attack occurred as the convoy approached a crowded bus stop," Dumais said.

"Some Afghan civilians were also killed or injured in the bombing," he said.

"There is no indication Canadians were specifically targetted," he said.

Berry began his posting in Afghanistan in August.

"Glyn was a senior diplomat who had a long and distinguished career," Peter Harder of Foreign Affairs Canada told reporters.

"His loss touches us all," a visibly shaken Harder said.

"Glyn was a significant and key member of our team here in Kandahar," Col. Steve Noonan, the Commander of the Task Force Afghanistan, said on the phone from that country.

Prime Minister Paul Martin commented on the bombing during a campaign stop in Laval, Que.

PM offers condolences

"On behalf of all Canadians, I want to express my condolences to the family of the individual who was killed, and our prayers and best wishes to the family of the deceased and to the families of the injured."

In the attack, the bomb was strong enough to blow the armoured vehicle carrying the soldiers off the side of the road, said Tom Coghlan, a British freelance reporter for The Daily Telegraph.

Witnesses said the blast also blew out windows in nearby buildings.

The injured were airlifted from the scene to the main U.S. air base in Kandahar.

This was the 15th suicide bomb attack in Afghanistan in the past three months.

Last December two Canadian soldiers were injured when a bomb detonated under their vehicle in southern Afghanistan.

Pte. Ryan Crawford and Capt. Manuel Panchana-Moya both suffered broken bones.

Canada has about 650 troops in Afghanistan, nearly all in Kandahar. There are plans to increase that number to 2,000 soldiers next month.
http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2006/01/15/afghan-deaths060115.html

[Atlas]

Condolences to our Canadian brothers and sisters on your loss.

[Ethyl]

Two Canadian soldiers remained in critical condition in hospital Sunday night and a third was nursing serious injuries after a bomber hit a military convoy in Afghanistan, killing a senior Canadian diplomat.

INDEPTH: Canada's involvement in Afghanistan (http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/afghanistan/timeline.html)
http://www.cbc.ca/gfx/pix/berry_glyn2_060115.jpg Diplomat Glyn Berry. (Courtesy Department of National Defence)

One of the soldiers managed to save his own life after the blast by applying a tourniquet to his severed left leg, his wife said late Sunday.
The suicide car bombing struck the convoy as it was returning to the coalition forces base near Kandahar earlier in the day.
The powerful blast hurled the armoured vehicle transporting the Canadians into a row of shops. It killed Glyn Berry, 59, a Foreign Affairs envoy who had been working as the political director of the provincial reconstruction team in Afghanistan.

Foreign Affairs said he was the first Canadian diplomat to be slain abroad. Diplomat praised for distinguished career
Berry had spent nearly three decades working as a diplomat, including postings at the United Nations and in Pakistan before he began his work in Afghanistan in August.
His military and diplomatic colleagues described Berry on Sunday as a dedicated diplomat who passionately believed in the rule of international law.


FROM JAN. 15, 2005: Slain envoy praised for 29-year career, sense of duty (http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2006/01/15/berry-remembered-060115.html)
"When I spoke with his widow today, she spoke touchingly about how important he felt this work was and how much he felt he was making a difference," Peter Harder of Foreign Affairs Canada told reporters.

"His loss touches us all."

Medic put tourniquet on his own severed leg
The attack also killed two Afghan civilians and injured 13 people, including three Canadians: Pte. William Salikin of 3rd Battalion Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, Cpl. Jeffrey Bailey of 1 Combat Engineer Regiment, and Master Cpl. Paul Franklin of 1 Field Ambulance.
http://www.cbc.ca/gfx/pix/franklin_paul2_060115.jpg Master Cpl. Paul Franklin, a medic, told his wife that the blast severed part of one leg and broke the other. (File Photo Courtesy Department of National Defence)

Two of the Canadians were in hospital at the U.S.-led base at Kandahar airport with life-threatening injuries while the third was in serious condition, Lt.-Gen. Marc Dumais told reporters at a briefing in Ottawa.
He didn't give any further details, except to say that the injured soldiers would be airlifted to a U.S. military hospital in Germany as soon as possible.
Franklin's wife, Audra Franklin, later said she had spoken with her husband on the telephone.
Franklin, a medic, told her that the explosion severed his left leg below the knee and broke his right leg.

"I'm so proud, because ... he applied his own tourniquet in the field and saved his own life," she told CBC News at her home in Edmonton.
'They all understand the risk they take,' military commander says
http://www.cbc.ca/gfx/pix/salikan_william060115.jpg Pte. William Salikin (File Photo Courtesy Department of National Defence)
Brig. Gen. Tim Grant, the commander of military forces in Western Canada, said all three soldiers were based in Edmonton and due to return home within weeks.
Grant told a news conference that the city's tight-knit military community had been hit hard by news of the attack.
But he also said Canadian troops working in Afghanistan knew the risks and felt they were worth taking.
"The life we sign up for is dangerous. It's a risky environment," Grant said.

"They're doing an important job over there and they all understand that, and they all understand the risk they take."

No indication that Canadians were targeted
http://www.cbc.ca/gfx/pix/bailey_jefferey060115.jpg Cpl. Jeff Bailey (File Photo Courtesy Department of National Defence)
The Taliban claimed responsibility for Sunday's attack, which witnesses said occurred when a vehicle swerved into the convoy and exploded.

Defence officials said the convoy was travelling in armoured Mercedes-Benz Gelaendewagens (known as "G Wagons"), but the blast was so powerful that it blew the one vehicle across the road.

FROM DEC. 12, 2005: Bomb ripped apart vehicle carrying Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan (http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2005/12/12/afghan_cda051212.html)
But the attack highlighted the increasing dangers for coalition troops in Afghanistan.
There have been more than 25 suicide car bombings in the past four months, as militants take up a once-rare tactic to try to destabilize the country.
Afghanistan receives Canada's largest foreign commitment in both dollars and military deployments.
http://www.cbc.ca/gfx/pix/wreckage_afghanistan_cp_9320413.jpg The wreckage of a vehicle is seen after the explosion that happened in Kandahar, Afghanistan on Sunday. (AP Photo)
Canada has about 650 troops in Afghanistan, but plans to increase its military presence in Kandahar to about 2,000 in February.

Defence officials said there was no indication that Canadians were specifically targeted in Sunday's attack.

PM offers condolences
Prime Minister Paul Martin issued a statement expressing his concern and condolences "on behalf of all Canadians."
"Mr. Berry had a long and distinguished career of service to Canadians at home and abroad," Martin said in a statement.
The PM's statement went on to wish "the three Canadian soldiers who were injured, a speedy and complete recovery."

http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2006/01/15/afghan-deaths060115.html

[Ethyl]

Injured Canadian soldiers may be home next week


CTV.ca News Staff

The three Canadian soldiers wounded in a suicide bombing in Afghanistan are making good progress and could be on their way home by next week, officials said Thursday.

Speaking from the U.S. military hospital in Germany, where the three men were airlifted, Canadian medical officer Major Nick Withers said they "showed incredible stamina and strength" and "seem to be doing very well."

Although two of the men -- Corporal Jeffrey Bailey and Private William Salikin -- remain in critical condition, Withers said Salikin could be off a respirator in about a day, and that doctors are also pleased with the progress of Bailey.

Bailey has a brain injury and has had fluid drained from his skull. He condition is now stable and Withers said he hoped that surgery would not be necessary.

"The swelling around his brain is the most significant issue at this point ... but we're getting towards day five, which is when we usually see the peak of the swelling," Withers told reporters.

"We are certainly hoping that he will not require surgery."

Withers said Master Corporal Paul Franklin was in the best shape of the three, though he lost his lower left leg in Sunday's attack which killed Canadian diplomat Glyn Berry, 59.

Franklin's lower right leg is badly shattered but so far there has not been a need to amputate it, although he is "not out of the woods yet," Withers said.


Franklin is now out of intensive care and in a surgical ward.

"I think it is safe to say that at this point we don't think we're going to have anybody die from these (injuries)," added Withers.

Meanwhile, defence spokesman Captain Mike Mietzner told The Globe and Mail that the three men could be on their way home within a few days.

"They're looking at repatriating them by early to the middle of next week," he said in an interview from Germany Thursday.

"They're in no rush to get any of them home," he added. "They obviously want to get them stable enough to handle the more or less eight hour flight."


The families of the three soldiers arrived at the hospital, in Landstuhl, early Wednesday to be reunited with their loved ones.

Franklin, the only soldier not to be heavily sedated after the attack, recounted his story of survival to Canadian officers, CTV's Tom Kennedy reported from Germany.


"It's quite an extraordinary story," Kennedy said. "He woke up after this explosion happened, came to, noticed he was missing part of one of his legs, and he was able to apply medical treatment to himself, stop the bleeding. In effect, as doctors here are saying, he saved his own life."

Emotional farewell

Meanwhile in Kandahar on Tuesday, hundreds of soldiers lined a dusty tarmac to bid an emotional farewell to Glyn Berry, the ranking Foreign Affairs official who headed Canada's provincial reconstruction team in Kandahar.

The flag-draped coffin bearing his body rode atop an armoured vehicle past a long line of soldiers at Kandahar airport before being placed aboard the C-130 Hercules transport plane for its final voyage, to his family living in London.

"There were a lot of soldiers there, from all the coalition nations, paying their respects to him," Maj. Dany Laferriere, a spokesman for the Canadian provincial reconstruction team, told CP. "It was a very emotional ceremony."

A piper played as six Canadian soldiers carried Berry's coffin up the rear ramp of the plane, led by David Sproule, the Canadian ambassador to Afghanistan.

Berry, a 28-year veteran of the diplomatic corps, was killed Sunday when the vehicle in which he and the three soldiers were travelling was struck by a car bomb, just a kilometre outside the Canadian base in Kandahar.

An autopsy is required before Berry's remains are released to his family and he is buried in his native Britain.
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060119/afghanistan_soldiers_060119/20060119?hub=World

[Ethyl]

Wounded soldier may not survive

Edmonton — One of three Canadian soldiers seriously wounded in a suicide bombing in Afghanistan last week has a “devastating” head injury and may not survive.

Trauma surgeon Lt.-Col. Ron Brisebois said Thursday that Cpl. Jeffrey Bailey's brain continues to swell and he remains in a medically induced coma at the University of Alberta Hospital in Edmonton.

Lt.-Col. Brisebois, looking downcast, said Cpl. Bailey's ultimate prognosis is extremely guarded.

“The injury that has happened to his brain is very severe. The swelling is a sign of how much underlying brain injury there is. And the chances for a good neurological outcome from this remain very slim,” Lt.-Col. Brisebois said.

“And there is a potential that he could pass away from his head injury or the complications thereof.”

Cpl. Bailey is also suffering from blood strain infections, pneumonia, a blood clot, burns and fractured ribs.

Another of the soldiers, Pte. William Salikin of Grand Forks, B.C., was still on a breathing machine Thursday, but was expected to be taken off the apparatus soon.

Pte. Salikin has been in and out of consciousness, but was responding to doctors by wiggling his toes on command. He even managed to give doctors a thumbs-up.

“He is doing fairly well in respect to his head injury,” said Lt.-Col. Brisebois, who noted Pte. Salikin is scheduled to have an MRI of his brain and his spine.

“He continues to make progress.”

The third soldier, MCpl. Paul Franklin, a native of Halifax, will have to decide with doctors in the next few days whether to have his right leg amputated or try for reconstructive surgery.

“He is in very good spirits. He is being seen by an infectious disease consultant, a burn surgeon who is planning on performing skin grafts on the back of both of his hands, probably early next week,” Lt.-Col. Brisebois said.

“Overall, he remains in very good condition, very stable and very supported.

“He obviously has a significant injury that will affect his long-term function, but, his life is certainly out of danger for now.”

MCpl. Franklin lost his left leg at the knee in the Jan. 15 attack near Kandahar, which also killed senior Canadian diplomat Glyn Berry.

Mr. Berry, who was serving as Canada's top Foreign Affairs official in Afghanistan, was buried in London on Thursday with full military honours.

All of the injured men are also battling multiple drug-resistant bacterial infections, which are common in injuries suffered by soldiers in Afghanistan, Lt.-Col. Brisebois said.

The men have been isolated from other patients in hospital to avoid spreading the bacteria.

They are being treated by a medical team including neurosurgeons, infectious disease consultants, plastic reconstructive surgeons, intensive-care medicine specialists and trauma nurses.

The soldiers' families have been fully briefed on their medical conditions, said Lt.-Col. Henry Flaman, chief surgeon for the Land Force Western Area.

“They have expressed to me their gratitude to the Canadian public,” he said.

Family members were not available for comment, however.

The Jan. 15 attack occurred as Canadian soldiers were returning to base in enclosed armoured Mercedes jeeps, known as G-Wagons, from a meeting with local leaders. Witnesses reported seeing a taxi swerve into the convoy and blow up.

A second vehicle was damaged but no other Canadians were hurt.

Nine Canadians have been killed in Afghanistan since 2002.

Rising violence in southern Afghanistan, particularly an increase in suicide bombings, has reinforced fears the country may be subjected to more assaults modelled on those in Iraq.

At least 20 suicide attacks have rocked Afghanistan since late September.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060126.wafghan0125/BNStory/National/