Last Updated Sat, 04 Mar 2006 13:34:11 EST
CBC News
A Canadian soldier suffered a serious head wound after an attack by an axe-wielding man in southern Afghanistan on Saturday.
Initial reports from the Department of National Defence said the Canadian was shot. But military officials in Kandahar later said the soldier was hit in the back of the head with the axe while attending a meeting with Afghan elders in Gumbad, 70 kilometres north of Kandahar.
Canadian soldiers shot and killed the attacker. Amid the confusion, a second assailant tossed a grenade at the group, but it did no damage. Afghan forces shot at the man, but he managed to escape.
The wounded Canadian has been identified as Lieut. Trevor Greene of Vancouver. After the attack, he was flown by a U.S. Black Hawk helicopter to the hospital at Kandahar airfield.
Greene was with the Seaforth Highlanders, a Vancouver-based reserve infantry unit, and was on a six-month deployment to Afghanistan. He is a published author and entrepreneur and has eight years of service in the Canadian Armed Forces, according to his website.
The axe-grenade ambush happened a day after five Canadian soldiers were hurt in a suicide bomb attack outside Kandahar.
The Canadian military, meanwhile, has identified the most seriously injured of five soldiers hurt on Friday.
Master Cpl. Michael Loewen was the commander of a LAV III armoured vehicle when a suicide bomber drove his vehicle into a Canadian military convoy.
Dr. Scott Taylor, head orthopedic surgeon at the Canadian hospital at Kandahar, said Loewen will need major reconstructive surgery to save his arm, but he will survive.
Lieut. Trevor Greene is transferred from an ambulance to the military hospital at the Kandahar airfield. (photo: Stephen Puddicombe, CBC News)
Canadian troops face increasing attacks in the restive Kandahar region as they slowly take over from the region from the Americans. Two Canadians have died and about 20 have been injured in action and accidents this year.
On Thursday, Cpl. Paul Davis, 28, was killed when his armoured vehicle flipped over after hitting a taxi on a road outside of Kandahar. Six other soldiers and a local interpreter were injured.
The Canadian deployment of 2,200 soldiers is part of an expansion of a NATO-led security mission into southern Afghanistan.
CBC News
A Canadian soldier suffered a serious head wound after an attack by an axe-wielding man in southern Afghanistan on Saturday.
Initial reports from the Department of National Defence said the Canadian was shot. But military officials in Kandahar later said the soldier was hit in the back of the head with the axe while attending a meeting with Afghan elders in Gumbad, 70 kilometres north of Kandahar.
Canadian soldiers shot and killed the attacker. Amid the confusion, a second assailant tossed a grenade at the group, but it did no damage. Afghan forces shot at the man, but he managed to escape.
The wounded Canadian has been identified as Lieut. Trevor Greene of Vancouver. After the attack, he was flown by a U.S. Black Hawk helicopter to the hospital at Kandahar airfield.
Greene was with the Seaforth Highlanders, a Vancouver-based reserve infantry unit, and was on a six-month deployment to Afghanistan. He is a published author and entrepreneur and has eight years of service in the Canadian Armed Forces, according to his website.
The axe-grenade ambush happened a day after five Canadian soldiers were hurt in a suicide bomb attack outside Kandahar.
The Canadian military, meanwhile, has identified the most seriously injured of five soldiers hurt on Friday.
Master Cpl. Michael Loewen was the commander of a LAV III armoured vehicle when a suicide bomber drove his vehicle into a Canadian military convoy.
Dr. Scott Taylor, head orthopedic surgeon at the Canadian hospital at Kandahar, said Loewen will need major reconstructive surgery to save his arm, but he will survive.
Lieut. Trevor Greene is transferred from an ambulance to the military hospital at the Kandahar airfield. (photo: Stephen Puddicombe, CBC News)
Canadian troops face increasing attacks in the restive Kandahar region as they slowly take over from the region from the Americans. Two Canadians have died and about 20 have been injured in action and accidents this year.
On Thursday, Cpl. Paul Davis, 28, was killed when his armoured vehicle flipped over after hitting a taxi on a road outside of Kandahar. Six other soldiers and a local interpreter were injured.
The Canadian deployment of 2,200 soldiers is part of an expansion of a NATO-led security mission into southern Afghanistan.
Who the **** attacks a group of heavily-armed soldiers with an axe? Who the **** then throws a grenade in a secondary ambush, but manages to do "no damage"?
These aren't exactly Einsteins we're dealing with, are they...
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