Cpl. Nathan Hornburg, 24, Canadian killed in action in Afghanistan
Charlene
Calgary-based soldier killed in Afghanistan
Last Updated: Tuesday, September 25, 2007 | 11:18 AM ET
CBC News
A Canadian soldier was killed as he repaired a tank during a patrol in
Afghanistan's volatile south, the military confirmed Tuesday before
word emerged that another Canadian soldier had been wounded in a
separate incident.
Cpl. Nathan Hornburg, a 24-year-old reservist from the King's Own
Calgary Regiment, was hit by a mortar shell Monday afternoon as he was
fixing a track that had fallen off the Leopard tank in the Panjwaii
district, about 47 kilometres west of Kandahar City.
Another Canadian soldier was injured in the 4:30 p.m. attack local
time, while three others were wounded as they tried to help the
injured soldier.
"There are no ways to comfort those who are grieving today except to
say Cpl. Hornburg was involved in a mission he believed in," Brig.-
Gen. Guy Laroche, Canada's military commander in Afghanistan, told
reporters Tuesday at the Kandahar military base.
Soldier seriously injured in new incident
In a separate incident Tuesday, a Canadian soldier was seriously
wounded while on foot patrol with the Afghan National Police.
The soldier, who has not been identified, was taken by military
helicopter to the main base at Kandahar. He was later moved to a
British military hospital in nearby Helmand province for neurological
care.
He was patrolling with the Afghans as part of a Canadian Forces
mentoring team when the entire group came under attack from
insurgents. They were hit with rocket propelled grenades and small
arms fire.
Injured soldiers expected to recover
At the time of Monday's attack, Hornburg and other soldiers were
trying to increase security in the northern part of the Panjwaii
district, in the hopes of establishing a police station there.
Laroche said the terrain is rough in the area, and it is not unusual
for a tank's track to fall off.
"That's something we see on a regular basis, unfortunately," he said.
After the initial attack, Canadian soldiers were hit as they tried to
take the injured soldier to a safer place to administer first aid, the
CBC's David Common said from Kandahar. Laroche said the soldiers were
attacked as they travelled in a light armoured vehicle.
No other details were available about that attack.
All four soldiers are expected to recover, though some injuries are
serious. They were taken by ambulance and helicopter to a military
hospital in Kandahar.
The names of the injured will not be released to the public, as is
military policy, but Laroche said three are part of the Royal 22nd
Regiment in Quebec and one is based at CFB Petawawa in Ontario.
Looking to 'reduce the threat': commander
Laroche said attacks by insurgents are, unfortunately, common in
Afghanistan.
"You will never be able essentially to defeat completely the enemy,"
he said. "You have to find ways to reduce the threat ... and that's what
we're doing."
Hornburg had known of the threat, but would not be deterred from what
he believed was an important mission.
"We know it's a mess and that's why we're there," he told the Calgary
Sun in July, before deploying to Afghanistan in August.
Hornburg's family requested privacy on Tuesday and did not grant media
interviews.
Including Hornburg, 71 Canadian soldiers and one diplomat have been
killed in the war-torn country since the mission began in 2002.
Canada has about 2,500 soldiers in Afghanistan, most of them stationed
in the south.
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wd43
Kathi
<charlene...@gmail.com> wrote:
>http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2007/09/25/afghanistan-soldier.html
>Calgary-based soldier killed in Afghanistan
>Last Updated: Tuesday, September 25, 2007 | 11:18 AM ET
>CBC News
>
>A Canadian soldier was killed as he repaired a tank during a patrol in
>Afghanistan's volatile south, the military confirmed Tuesday before
>word emerged that another Canadian soldier had been wounded in a
>separate incident.
My condolences to the people of Canada.