Taliban Bombing Has Increased

Canadian soldiers have been particularly targeted by the Taliban, according to a Taliban spokesman. He said that earlier this month insurgents were in the process of a campaign to target coalition forces, particularly Canadians.

Canadian military officials deny any claims that Canadian soldiers have been specifically targeted by the Taliban. They claim that the Canadian coalition forces have just been having a lot of bad luck. There was approximately twice as many makeshift bombs planted in the last quarter of 2008 as was reported in the same time period in 2007, according to the Canadian military. Although there are more explosive devices being discovered, there is much fewer of them killing coalition troops, said Captain Roy Ulrich, second -in-command of the Task Force, Kandahar's anti-bomb squad. "We are more successful in dealing with them", Ulrich said. There was roughly 355 bombs that detonated during the last quarter of 2008, compared to about 170 bombs that were detonated during the same time period in 2007, according to military officials. Some of these bombs were either detonated accidentally, intentionally or disposed of before they could do any harm. Of those, the number of accidental detonations - 180 explosions occurred between September and December of last year. This was nearly three times as high as the statistics reported the year before. Ten Canadian soldiers died as a result of those explosions. Weather also plays a big role while in combat. Heavy precipitation in the latter part of 2007 made it more difficult for the insurgents to plant bombs. A much milder fall and winter last year made for more ideal conditions for the Taliban, Ulrich said. Ulrich reiterated that although misfortune did play a part in the Canadian deaths, he also did acknowledge that changing insurgent tactics could also be partly responsible. The Taliban continues to choose planting homemade bombs rather than engaging in face-to-face fighting, Ulrich concluded.