Tuesday, September 25, 2007

On Monday, a 24-year-old Calgary Reservist became the 71st Canadian soldier killed in Afghanistan.

Four others were injured in the incident, which killed Corporal Nathan Hornburg, who was operating as part of Operation Sadiq Sarbaaz, a joint Afghan-NATO mission designed to “set the conditions for a continuous security presence and the establishment of a new police sub-station in the northern part of (Panjwaii).”

Media reports indicated he died from mortar fire at around 16:30 local time while he was repairing the track on a Canadian Leopard tank near a cluster of villages known as Zangabad. Brigadier-General Guy Laroche stated “The terrain was very rough and (tank treads falling off) is something we see on a regular basis.”

One of the soldiers was injured in the mortar attack, while three others were hurt in a nearby armoured vehicle by a rocket propelled grenade during the ensuing firefight. The injured have not been identified, but a military official says two are part of the Royal 22nd Regiment based in Valcartier, Quebec, and one is from Canadian Forces Base Petawawa near Pembroke, Ontario. The injured were evacuated to a hospital at Kandahar Air Field, where their injuries are described as non-life threatening.

Corporal Hornburg was a member of the King’s Own Calgary Regiment, a Reserve armoured unit based in Calgary, Alberta, and was serving with the Lord Strathcona’s Horse (Royal Canadians) while in Afghanistan.