KANDAHAR - Afghan National Army soldiers destroyed three suspected bomb-making compounds and killed a person believed to be planting roadside bombs during a recent operation, a senior ANA commander said Wednesday.
The mission was planned and executed by the Afghan army under the tutelage of Canadian military mentors, Col. Ahmad Habibi told reporters Wednesday at Kandahar Airfield.
Habibi said two of the compounds were located in the town of Senjaray and one was in Maywand district, about 75 kilometres west of Kandahar city.
He said Afghan soldiers found a cache of weapons at the compounds, including rockets, machine guns, bomb wires, explosives and bomb-making instructions.
The troops also found a car laden with 56 sacks of powder -- believed to be used for making bombs -- along with seven barrels of acid, Habibi said.
"The enemy is very ruthless," he said through a translator.
Last week, the Canadian military said coalition forces killed 11 Taliban militants, including the leader of a bomb-making cell, during a raid in Maywand.
The raid targeted a Taliban network responsible for roadside bomb attacks near Senjaray that killed six Canadian soldiers earlier this month.
The military identified the leader of the bomb-making cell as Shahir Sahib.
Bomb blasts have killed nine Canadian soldiers this month. December has been Canada's deadliest month since April 2007, when the same number were killed, and it came close to the record of 10 deaths set in September 2006.
A string of suicide bombings this month has also rocked the country.
That violence has erupted across Afghanistan in a winter month is a change from years past, when snow blocks blocks mountain passes and insurgents retreat to their hideouts to regroup for more fighting in the spring.
Canadian military officials have blamed the spate of roadside bomb deaths on bad luck, although they also acknowledge the bombs are difficult to detect and relatively easy to make.
Training Afghan soldiers to protect their own country is seen as a key part of Canada's exit strategy for Afghanistan.
Canadian Forces Col. Jamie Cade, the deputy commander of Task Force Kandahar, praised the Afghans for conducting their own operation.
"This is a very big step forward for everybody," Cade said.
"You have Afghan National Army soldiers out interacting with the public. They're the ones providing the security for the Afghan people. That's very important for the people."
The Canadian military mentors five Afghan army battalions, known as kandaks, each comprising up to 650 soldiers, through its Operational Mentoring and Liaison Teams.
There are 45,000 soldiers in the Afghan National Army. Canada mentors more than 3,000 Afghans, and the United States and the Netherlands are also involved in training.
