KANDAHAR - His name is Ali Ahmed and may his face haunt Afghanistan.
I'm not sure how old he is, nine or 10 maybe, his cheeks streaked with dirt and tears, his voice pleading for help. His older brother lies on the side of the road a few metres away, as Ali frantically searches for his younger sister.
The suicide bomber waited for a Canadian convoy to get close and that's when he set off his charge. Ali was outside with his brothers and sister, cleaning the canals that lead to his uncle's land. The explosion destroyed the bomber's car, and most tragic of all, shattered the lives of another Afghan family.
That's so often the case in this conflict. The real victims are Afghan civilians. It seems trivial, insignificant to mention that a Canadian soldier wearing his helmet and flak jacket, inside the shelter of an armored vehicle was, slightly wounded.
Ali clutched at the hands of police and journalists, with words that were demanding and hysterical. "I know my brother's dead," he cried, "what about the others?"
He obviously came from a poor family. His head was shaved against lice and I'm sure he only has one set of clothes, a pair of loose pants and a long over-shirt, known as a shawal kameez. A younger brother was dressed almost identically and looked just as traumatized. Neither of the boys was injured.
He kept asking about his brother's remains, insisting that parts were missing and must be found. The body was covered in a bloody shroud on the ground, its bare feet wretchedly exposed, as a crowd of neighbors and officials circled around.
Ali sat down and wailed, bending over his dead brother. "Allah," he kept repeating, over and over. "Allah."
The family had come from Helmand province to stay with an uncle in Kandahar. They were in a village about 25 kilometres west of Kandahar City, where Canadian troops hold ground and routinely patrol. There have been other attacks recently, and the Taliban has promised a deadly spring offensive using hundreds of suicide "martyrs."
When the bomber struck this time, all the grownups in Ali's family were away.
"I wish my uncle were here," he cried, "I'm all alone."
At one point he covered his face with a shawl and implored the people around him to help. "Why are you looking at me," he screamed. "Bring a bed or something to put my brother on."
His uncle finally returned to take charge of the family's tragedy. The body was lifted by a few of the men and taken to a waiting van for return to Helmand and burial the same day.
Ali Ahmed's sister had been rushed to a nearby Canadian base and then sent by helicopter to the surgical hospital at Kandahar Air Field. A few hours later, a Canadian military spokesman announced that she too had died of her wounds.
Another suicide bomber sent by the Taliban. Two more Afghan lives destroyed.
