Number 83

[Kip Powick]

Canadian soldier killed in Taliban ambush

May 06, 2008 04:57 PM

Allan Woods

Ottawa Bureau

AND CANADIAN PRESS

OTTAWA – A Canadian soldier was killed in a gun battle with insurgents today, the first death from direct contact with the Taliban in more than seven months.

Brigadier-Gen. Guy Laroche confirmed the death to Canadian reporters at Kandahar Airfield.

Cpl. Michael Starker, an army reservist with Edmonton-based 15 Field Ambulance, was pronounced dead in a military hospital on Tuesday after his patrol was ambushed in the Pashmul region of Zhari district, about 25 kilometres west of Kandahar city. In civilian life, he was a Calgary paramedic.

Laroche, commander of Canadian troops in Afghanistan, says a wounded soldier is being treated in hospital at Kandahar Airfield and was able to call home on his own.

The military said that a Canadian foot patrol was ambushed in the Pashmul area, outside of Kandahar City. The region has been hotly contested region since Canadian troops deployed in Kandahar more than two years ago.

The bulk of Canadian military deaths over the last two years have come from roadside bombs, suicide bombers and other improvised explosive devices.

So far this year, there were four deaths in January, three in March and one in April. Two were killed in a vehicle accident, one death is considered “non-hostile” and is under investigation. The others were caused by IED attacks.

The attack comes as NATO forces throughout southern Afghanistan are bracing for the anticipated surge in violence that usually accompanies the end of the poppy harvest.

This death brings to 83 the number of Canadian soldiers killed in the war-torn country since the overthrow of the Taliban in 2001.

[Specs]

If you haven't already, I'd recommend Christie Blatchford's book - Fifteen Days. I won't comment on the goal of the mission but the book definitely conveys the heroism and professionalism of our troops under fire in Afghanistan and drives home a point of view or perspective non forces folks simply won't get anywhere else.

(Source of quote undocumented)

".. As someone who has been to Afghanistan visiting our troops a couple of times, I learned more about the performance of our soldiers from reading Blatchford's book than I did from being on the ground for short stays. ... I've never felt prouder of being Canadian than when I've had the pleasure of commanding, or, in the case of Afghanistan, observing Canadian soldiers performing their duties abroad. Fifteen Days reinforced that pride even more."

--Major-General Lewis MacKenzie (ret'd.)