Four soldiers killed in Afghanistan

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This article was published 21/03/2009 (6020 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan — Four Canadian soldiers, only days away from returning home from Afghanistan, were killed and eight of their comrades were injured shortly after dawn while participating in Canada’s largest combat operation since the Korean War.

The men died in two separate incidents from improvised explosive devices that had been planted in the dirt by insurgents about 40 kilometres apart.

The deaths brought to 116 the number of Canadian soldiers who have died in Afghanistan since the first troops were deployed here early in the spring of 2002.

It was “with a heavy heart” that Brig.-Gen. Jon Vance, commander of Canada’s Task Force Afghanistan, announced the deaths on Friday in Operation Jaley, a joint Canadian-American-Afghan operation involving more than 2,000 combat troops.

The mission was designed to attack Taliban command centres and supply routes. “Please do not think of this as a failure on the part of any person or of the mission itself,” Vance said. “These wonderful Canadian men were, at the moment of their deaths, engaged directly in the continuing work to keep the insurgency sufficiently at bay to ensure the safety for the population, and to preserve our ability to meet the objectives of the Afghan people, the international community and the Government of Canada.”

Master Cpl. Scott Vernelli, 28, and Cpl. Tyler Crooks, 24, both of 3rd Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment, died when they were hit by an IED while on a foot patrol in western Zahri District as part of Operation Jaley. An Afghan interpreter was also killed. Five other soldiers from November Company were wounded as was another Afghan interpreter. In the second incident, which occurred about two hours later, Trooper Jack Bouthillier, 20, and Trooper Corey Hayes, 22, from a reconnaissance squadron of the Petawawa-based Royal Canadian Dragoons died when their armoured vehicle struck an IED in Shah Wali Khot District, about 20 kilometres northeast of Kandahar. Three other Dragoons were wounded in the same blast.

Vernelli’s wife, in a statement released Friday evening, said his family was devastated. “Scotty held ultimate pride in lacing up his combat boots every morning. He believed in the mission in Afghanistan and volunteered for this, his 3rd tour in Afghanistan,” said Marcie Lane. “His friends will hold him close in their hearts forever…”

One of the Canadians injured in the twin strikes Friday required evacuation to a U.S. Air Force hospital at Landstuhl, Germany, that specializes in dealing with those seriously wounded on the battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq. The names of the wounded were not released.

Vernelli and Crooks of Port Colborne, Ont., were completing a six-hour, overnight dismounted mission — one of the last they were to have done after six months in Afghanistan — and were on their way back to their armoured vehicles at the time. The blast that killed them could be heard several kilometres away. On Friday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said he learned of the latest deaths “with profound sorrow.”

“Our thoughts and prayers are with their loved ones as they deal with this tragic loss.”

Vernelli, 28, was married and had a six-month-old daughter.

Crooks, 24, had what Capt. Kris Reeves described as “unsung heroes-type jobs” in November Company. They were duties that were “not very glamorous” because they were not part of the rifle platoons that do much of the fighting, but that they had often been “out in front, doing some of the hardest jobs,” he said.

Bouthillier, 20, was a keen sportsman and martial arts specialist renowned for his sense of humour, Vance said.

Hayes, 22, was remembered by Vance “not only as a friend and comrade in arms but a brother who inspired them to stand up in the face of danger and do what was right.”

A platoon of November Company, acting as mentors to an Afghan army battalion, were almost immediately in contact with the enemy, who were armed with light weapons and rocket-propelled grenades.

— Canwest News Service