The pointed end of the stick

photo of LAV III is from CTV News

In the past couple of days one Canadian soldier, has been killed and several soldiers wounded in separate incidents near Kandahar, Afghanistan. The soldier who was killed was Corporal James Davis of Bridgwater Nova Scotia, serving with the Princess Patricia?s Canadian Light Infantry. May perpetual light shine upon him.

Today, CTV News (hat tip to Neale News) reports that five Canadian soldiers were wounded (one seriously) in a suicide attack.

One soldier is in critical but stable condition, and underwent surgery for wounds to his arm. He is expected to be airlifted to the U.S. medical facility at Landstuhl in Germany. The other four soldiers were slightly hurt in the blast, the military said. They are expected to return to duty shortly.

Friday's suicide attack -- the first against a LAV III vehicle -- left a large crater in the road, and the blast was loud enough that it could be heard by soldiers several kilometres away.

A man driving a white Corolla in the opposite direction turned his vehicle into the convoy that was carrying the Canadian patrol and detonated his explosives, said CTV's Steve Chao, reporting from Kandahar.

Names of the injured have not yet been released, pending notification of kin.

The death of Corporal Davis raises the number of Canadians killed in Afghanistan to ten (one was a diplomat). This number is expected to rise now that we have deployed 2,200 troops to the volatile Kandahar region. Canada commands the NATO forces in the region engaged against Taliban and Islamist forces.

The troops are reporting that they have been well equipped for the deployment and the fact that the troops survived this suicide attack is attributed to the robustness of the new LAV III.