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8 CIA Officers, 4 Canadian Soldiers And Journalist Killed In Afghanistan
In a stark reminder of the ever-increasing challenge lying ahead in fighting terrorism in Afghanistan, the Taliban struck heavily at the year-end on foreigners serving in Afghanistan.
Four soldiers and a journalist from Canada and 8 CIA officers were killed in separate bomb attacks Wednesday, reports said.
It was the highest number of casualties America's Central Intelligence Agency suffered since the bombing of the US Embassy in Beirut in 1983.
However, the death of CIA officers has not been confirmed by either the CIA or the Pentagon. US state department spokesman Ian Kelly "mourned the loss of life in this attack," but said she is withholding further details "pending notification of next of kin."
The two attacks, worst on foreigners in a single day in recent months, are seen as ominous signals of an upsurge of violence in the crucial battlegrounds of the war-torn country.
The five Canadians were killed when a blast hit a military convoy patrolling near Dand, considered a relatively peaceful district in the restive south.
Canada's Department of National Defense had not yet released the names of the four soldiers but the journalist was identified as Calgary Herald reporter Michelle Lang. She was traveling in an armored vehicle carrying a provincial reconstruction team in Kandahar when she was killed.
Lang, who was on her first assignment as a war correspondent for the paper, became the first Canadian journalist to die while on duty in Afghanistan.
Four Canadian soldiers and a Canadian civilian official, injured in the blast, were airlifted from the wreckage to the military hospital at Kandahar Air Field.
Brigadier-General Daniel Menard, ISAF commander in Kandahar, said the soldiers were conducting a "community security patrol in order to gather information on the pattern of life and maintain security in the area."
It is the worst fatal incident affecting Canadians in Afghanistan for more than two years.
About 2,500 Canadian troops were engaged in security operations in Afghanistan jointly with national forces as part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) since 2002. The Canadians are deployed in Kandahar, the crucial battleground.
The brazen nature of the strike on a road where there is heavy traffic and having the regular presence of Afghan soldiers threatens to undermine gains Canadians had made in the area.
The incident occurred Wednesday, hours after eight CIA officers were killed by a suicide bombing at a US base in Khost province. It was one of the deadliest days in the agency's history.
A bomber slipped into a gym facility at the U.S. base -- Forward Operating Base Chapman -- and detonated a suicide vest, reports said. In addition to the eight deaths, the blast wounded six Americans, reports quoting US officials said.
Being a strategic location, the American intelligence agency had a major presence at the base. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack in an online message posted early Thursday.
A Taliban spokesman said one of its members, who was working as a soldier in the Afghan army, carried out the attack.
The Los Angeles Times said CIA veterans were stunned by the news and at a loss to explain how a bomber was able to penetrate the intelligence security.
2009 has been the deadliest year for American military in its eight-year-long anti-Taliban operations in Afghanistan with the US troop casualties this year reaching 311, raising the death toll for US forces during the war to 941.
A total of 138 Canadian soldiers were killed in the corresponding period, 32 of them this year, according to Canadian Press reports.
The increasing number of attacks were seen as part of Taliban's rugged resistance against Washington's new strategy to send 30,000 extra troops to fight them.
President Barack Obama's call to its NATO allies to support Washington's renewed commitment to fighting terrorism in Afghanistan had received encouraging response earlier this month, as NATO foreign ministers agreed to send at least 7,000 extra troops to support the US surge in the war-ravaged South-West Asian country.
In fact, NATO and Washington are facing a dilemma of when to end their military mission, because they know leaving the entire responsibility of the country's security with domestic forces will be risky.
The burgeoning attacks also indicate the changing pattern of Taliban fighters, who normally lay low during the typically peaceful winter season, or regroup in neighboring Pakistan.
In a stark reminder of the ever-increasing challenge lying ahead in fighting terrorism in Afghanistan, the Taliban struck heavily at the year-end on foreigners serving in Afghanistan.
Four soldiers and a journalist from Canada and 8 CIA officers were killed in separate bomb attacks Wednesday, reports said.
It was the highest number of casualties America's Central Intelligence Agency suffered since the bombing of the US Embassy in Beirut in 1983.
However, the death of CIA officers has not been confirmed by either the CIA or the Pentagon. US state department spokesman Ian Kelly "mourned the loss of life in this attack," but said she is withholding further details "pending notification of next of kin."
The two attacks, worst on foreigners in a single day in recent months, are seen as ominous signals of an upsurge of violence in the crucial battlegrounds of the war-torn country.
The five Canadians were killed when a blast hit a military convoy patrolling near Dand, considered a relatively peaceful district in the restive south.
Canada's Department of National Defense had not yet released the names of the four soldiers but the journalist was identified as Calgary Herald reporter Michelle Lang. She was traveling in an armored vehicle carrying a provincial reconstruction team in Kandahar when she was killed.
Lang, who was on her first assignment as a war correspondent for the paper, became the first Canadian journalist to die while on duty in Afghanistan.
Four Canadian soldiers and a Canadian civilian official, injured in the blast, were airlifted from the wreckage to the military hospital at Kandahar Air Field.
Brigadier-General Daniel Menard, ISAF commander in Kandahar, said the soldiers were conducting a "community security patrol in order to gather information on the pattern of life and maintain security in the area."
It is the worst fatal incident affecting Canadians in Afghanistan for more than two years.
About 2,500 Canadian troops were engaged in security operations in Afghanistan jointly with national forces as part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) since 2002. The Canadians are deployed in Kandahar, the crucial battleground.
The brazen nature of the strike on a road where there is heavy traffic and having the regular presence of Afghan soldiers threatens to undermine gains Canadians had made in the area.
The incident occurred Wednesday, hours after eight CIA officers were killed by a suicide bombing at a US base in Khost province. It was one of the deadliest days in the agency's history.
A bomber slipped into a gym facility at the U.S. base -- Forward Operating Base Chapman -- and detonated a suicide vest, reports said. In addition to the eight deaths, the blast wounded six Americans, reports quoting US officials said.
Being a strategic location, the American intelligence agency had a major presence at the base. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack in an online message posted early Thursday.
A Taliban spokesman said one of its members, who was working as a soldier in the Afghan army, carried out the attack.
The Los Angeles Times said CIA veterans were stunned by the news and at a loss to explain how a bomber was able to penetrate the intelligence security.
2009 has been the deadliest year for American military in its eight-year-long anti-Taliban operations in Afghanistan with the US troop casualties this year reaching 311, raising the death toll for US forces during the war to 941.
A total of 138 Canadian soldiers were killed in the corresponding period, 32 of them this year, according to Canadian Press reports.
The increasing number of attacks were seen as part of Taliban's rugged resistance against Washington's new strategy to send 30,000 extra troops to fight them.
President Barack Obama's call to its NATO allies to support Washington's renewed commitment to fighting terrorism in Afghanistan had received encouraging response earlier this month, as NATO foreign ministers agreed to send at least 7,000 extra troops to support the US surge in the war-ravaged South-West Asian country.
In fact, NATO and Washington are facing a dilemma of when to end their military mission, because they know leaving the entire responsibility of the country's security with domestic forces will be risky.
The burgeoning attacks also indicate the changing pattern of Taliban fighters, who normally lay low during the typically peaceful winter season, or regroup in neighboring Pakistan.
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