4 Canadian soldiers killed, 8 injured in Kandahar roadside attacks
Last Updated: Friday, March 20, 2009 | 5:43 PM ET
CBC News
Master Cpl. Scott Vernelli (right) and another soldier set up a defensive position during an assault on a Taliban command centre in Zhari District Afghanistan on March 7, 2009. Vernelli was one of four Canadian soldiers killed Friday in two separate bombings outside of Kandahar city. (Murray Brewster/Canadian Press)
Four Canadian soldiers were killed and eight others injured in two separate bombings outside Kandahar City on Friday, military officials said.
Master Cpl. Scott Vernelli and Cpl. Tyler Crooks died when an improvised explosive device blew up near their patrol in the Zhari district, about 40 kilometres west of Kandahar. The incident happened about 6:45 a.m. local time, said Brig.-Gen. Jonathan Vance during a news conference in Kandahar.
Trooper Jack Bouthillier and Trooper Corey Joseph Hayes were killed when their vehicle struck a roadside bomb around 8:45 a.m. local time in the Shah Wali Kot district, a region about 20 km northwest of the city that's seeing an increase in Taliban activity.
All of the injured soldiers are in stable condition in Kandahar and were able to call their families, said Vance, the commander of Canadian troops in Afghanistan.
"Please do not think of these incidents as a failure on the part of any person or the mission itself," said Vance.
"These wonderful Canadian men were, at the moment of their deaths, engaged directly in the continuing work to keep the insurgency sufficiently at bay to ensure safety for the population and to preserve our ability to meet the objectives of the Afghans, the international community, and the government of Canada," he said.
"And those objectives are intended to meet the needs of a desperate afghan population. Success in war is costly."
Canadian military fatalities now up to 116
Vance described Vernelli, 28 and married with a six-month-old daughter, as "an enthusiastic and dedicated father."
"He was a terrific athlete, very funny, and ironically enough always able to joke at the worst of times."
Crooks, 24, was a keen and motivated soldier who "loved dirt-biking and was a Texas Hold 'em card shark," Vance said.
"He's remembered by his friends as the kind of guy who would do anything for you without even being asked."
Vance said Bouthillier, 20, was a joker who always had everyone laughing. "His enthusiasm and his unswerving duty for work inspired other soldiers."
Hayes, 22, "was a proud and dedicated soldier who always put his friends and family before himself," Vance said.
"His friends remember him not only as a friend and a comrade-in-arms, but a brother who Inspired them to stand up in the face of danger and do what was right."
The latest deaths bring the number of Canadian military fatalities in Afghanistan to 116 since Canada's combat mission there began in 2002. One diplomat and two aid workers have also been killed.
There are 2,830 Canadian troops serving at Kandahar Airfield and Camp Nathan Smith, the home of the Provincial Reconstruction Team in Kandahar city.
With files from the Canadian Press