Canadian and Afghan soldiers have concluded an operation designed to disrupt Taliban bomb-making operations in a volatile district of Kandahar province.
Operation Rolling Thunder saw a battle group from Charlie Company, 2nd Battalion Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry sweep through Zhari district, where the Taliban have had a long-established presence.
They engaged in firefights with the Taliban, but no Canadians were injured. One Afghan National Army soldier was slightly wounded.
"The aim was to get out there and cause them to be off balance, to take them out of their regular cycles so they're not able to go around with their regular routine and plant IEDs," Maj. Fraser Auld, a battle group planner, told reporters at Kandahar airfield on Saturday.
IEDs, short for improvised explosive devices, are the major killer of Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan. Eighty-three Canadian military personnel have died in Afghanistan since 2002.
The Taliban operate this way: They watch the movements of Canadian and other NATO troops, trying to anticipate where convoys or patrols might travel next.
They then plant the bombs either underneath or beside the roadway, a process that can take anywhere from 30 minutes to three hours.
Such bombs, however, are indiscriminate. Afghan civilians are also sometimes killed in the blasts, as they are when militants target Canadian military convoys.
Canada conducts frequent operations in Zhari, but because there is little ongoing Afghan National Army or police presence, the insurgents find it easy to slip back in.
"The locals that are living there really have no way to prevent these folks who are armed, to prevent these thugs from doing what they do," said Auld.
He said the Taliban work in a way that could be compared to organized crime.
However, there are also tribal and family ties that allow the Taliban to operate in the area with relative freedom, Auld said.
With files from The Canadian Press
