Senior commanders at CFB Edmonton have called for quiet reflection on the recent deaths of six Canadian soldiers, rather than political debate on the mission. Four of the slain men were based in Edmonton.
"I would encourage all of you that at this point in time, that the focus must be on repatriating these valiant soldiers and ensuring their families hear a clarion call of love and support from Canada," said Col. Jon Vance.
"The families are well aware that there is debate on this mission. Nonetheless, at this particular point in time, the most sensitive and, I think, mature approach, would be to show them ... love and support. These soldiers died in a mission that they believed in, and saw progress occurring."
The military has identified the final two soldiers from the group of six killed Wednesday:
- Cpl. Jordan Anderson, 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, based in Edmonton
- Capt. Jefferson Francis, 1 Royal Canadian Horse Artillery, based in Shilo, Manitoba
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Thursday that it was not appropriate to have an immediate debate about the mission in light of the recent deaths.
"Parliament has approved... (the mission) until February 2009, but obviously today is not the day to have a political debate on the future of the mission, we have the House of Commons for that," Harper told reporters at a press conference in Halifax.
"Today is a day to express our condolences for these soldiers, to their families, to their comrades but as well to emphasize the support that we all share as parliamentarians for the important work that they do on behalf of our country."
Harper's comments come as Liberal Leader Stephane Dion and NDP Leader Jack Layton expressed serious misgivings Wednesday about Canada's role in Afghanistan.
Dion said Harper will never attain a consensus to extend the mission beyond the 2009 deadline. Layton urged Harper to initiate a peace process that would help stabilize the region while scaling back Canadian military operations.
The soldiers and an Afghan interpreter were killed Wednesday after a roadside bomb ripped through their armoured vehicle in Afghanistan's Panjwaii district.
The group was on the way back to the base after a heavy day of fighting.
They were travelling in an RG-31 Nyala armoured vehicle on a gravel road, used often by Canadian convoys and considered to be safe.
"They've (the Taliban) been forced to take on these tactics -- either suicide bombings or roadside bombs -- because they simply cannot stand up to us in the open," Scott Taylor, publisher of the military magazine Esprit de Corps, told Canada AM Thursday.
"The RG-31 was custom designed... to defeat this sort of threat -- the roadside bombs, the landmines -- so when this vehicle ends up with seven fatalities obviously this was a massive bomb."
The other four soldiers killed have been identified as:
- Capt. Matthew Johnathan Dawe
- Cpl. Cole Bartsch
- Pte. Lane Watkins
- Master Cpl. Colin Bason
Reaction to deaths
Anderson, Dawe, Bartsch and Watkins were all members of 3rd Battalion Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, based in Edmonton.
Bason was a member of the Royal Westminster Regiment, based out of New Westminster, B.C.
Watkins came from the small farming town of Clearwater, Man., a community of less than 100.
Standing beneath a sign proclaiming the town motto, resident Gordon McGill said the loss of the young soldier has been widely felt.
"It affects everyone in the community. Just like the sign says: small town, big heart," he said.
High school friend Pte. Tyler Burns said Watkins was an honest, humble man who inspired him to join the military.
"He was really proud about getting into the regiment that he wanted," said Burns. "He was just happy to go."
Burns expects to go to Afghanistan, and added that his friend's death "really makes it more real. It's something to really think about."
Bason's mother, Ann Bason, said Wednesday that her son was probably one of the first reservists to join the mission, when the call went out for soldiers to go to Afghanistan.
"He was very proud that he got picked. The sad thing is he only had six weeks to go before he was on his way home," she told CTV British Columbia. "But how many people get to do the things they really love? And he really loved the infantry."
The attack happened about 20 kilometres southwest of Kandahar while the soldiers returned to their forward operating base west of Kandahar city, after conducting a joint operation with the Afghan National Army.
Meanwhile, a roadside bomb hit a NATO convoy in eastern Afghanistan Thursday, killing one soldier. While most of the foreign troops in that region are American, the nationality of the dead soldier has not yet been released.
In the south, a suicide bomber blew himself up Thursday at a checkpoint near Spin Boldak, a town on the Pakistani border, killing five police officers.
The attacker detonated his explosives in a room where the officers were eating lunch.
With the most recent deaths, 66 Canadian military personnel and one diplomat have now been killed in Afghanistan.
More than 2,400 people have been killed so far this year in Afghanistan, including civilians, militants and troops according to an AP tally.
With files from The Associated Press
