Canada's Army picks the G-Wagon

[Thai]

FYI for the original poster:

http://www.jalopnik.com/cars/news/the-gwagens-a-beauty-...ored-merc-142901.php

Canadians suffer minor injuries in Afghan blast
CTV.ca News Staff

It was a close call for Canadian soldiers who escaped death Wednesday after a suspected suicide bomber blew up a truck packed with explosives near their patrol in Afghanistan.

Three soldiers from Edmonton were treated for superficial injuries, said Col. Steve Bowes, commander of the Canadian Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT). There was some bruising, and one soldier received minor burns to his hands and the back of his neck.

"But they are all OK and they are back on duty," Bowes told CTV on Wednesday.

But a 10-year-old Afghan boy wasn't so lucky. He was killed along with the suicide attacker in the blast, which served to remind Canadian troops of the dangers facing them in the country.

The explosion occurred near an orphanage, about one kilometre outside of the city of Kandahar.

Bowes said it appears that the suspect vehicle made a short U-turn and then came back at the Canadian convoy and detonated.

"The investigation is ongoing but it looks like it was a suicide bombing."

Bowes said the irony is that Canadian troops enjoy a great deal of popular support in Kandahar.

"There is no part of this city where we cannot go. We simply need to be safe when we go there," he said.

"There is an extremist element and it's an element that you know will go to any ends to achieve their objectives."

Defence Minister Bill Graham recently warned that the move by Canadian troops from the more stable capital of Kabul to Kandahar -- widely known as a hotbed of militant activity -- could boost the odds of Canadian deaths and injuries.

Graham said from Ottawa Wednesday that he was relieved to hear the soldiers weren't seriously hurt.

"We're extremely cautious as we move into the Kandahar process," he said. "The chief of defence staff has assured me that we're taking all precautions to protect our troops, and I'm confident that we'll do that."

Graham said he was also pleased that lives may have been saved by the new light-armored vehicles the troops are using, called G-Wagons.

Despite the power of the blast, witnesses said the soldiers' G-Wagon was hardly damaged.

"I have renewed faith in the vehicles we're driving," Warrant Officer Mike Gauley said. He added the troops inspected the vehicle carefully for damage, but all they found was "a broken headlight."

The wagons were ordered after a landmine killed two Canadians travelling in a lighter Iltis jeep in October, 2003. But with the Taliban and al Qaeda blamed for a recent wave of suicide bombings, and with 1,000 more Canadians headed for combat in Afghanistan, the Opposition says the new vehicles aren't enough.

"The government basically committed our troops to fight guerillas in Afghanistan without making sure they had the equipment," said Ontario Conservative MP Gordon O'Connor.

Lieutenant-Colonel Wayne Eyre at the Edmonton Garrison said the names of the injured Canadian soldiers -- who are part of the 101-soldier Edmonton contingent -- won't be released.

They were part of a routine supply convoy bringing goods to Canada's provincial reconstruction team in Kandahar.