Posted on 03/23/2008 3:45:39 PM PDT by BenLurkin
Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan received a Laura Secord Easter egg.
PANJWAYI-ZHARI, Afghanistan (AFP) - With a bombing that killed two soldiers, rockets attacks and a suspicious parcel, Easter passed almost unnoticed for Canadian troops at this base in southern Afghanistan.
The past few days were significant: besides the Christian celebration of Easter, it was the Afghan New Year -- marking the start of spring, and the anniversary of the birth of the Muslim Prophet Mohammed.
But this did not mean a let-up in attacks by rebels in the Panjwayi-Zhari area, about 40 kilometres (25 miles) west of Kandahar city and in the heartland of the insurgent Taliban movement.
Two foreign soldiers were killed Friday when a mine blew up their vehicle while they were on a routine security patrol on the busy main road between Kandahar and the capital Kabul. Their nationalities were not released.
The attack was not far from the Canadian forward operating base, which sent a rapid reaction force from the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry to the incident, said the base commander, Captain Eghtedar Manouchehri.
"We were able to secure the scene very rapidly and what could have been a very bad situation was very well controlled by both Canadians and also Afghan soldiers," he said.
The troopers returned exhausted, but safe, a few hours later.
Earlier, on Thursday evening, the second rocket in 48 hours was fired toward the base. It caused no damage, said Manouchehri, but it put the soldiers on alert.
The two rockets had been fired from the same position, which the soldiers then went out and destroyed, one soldier said.
"We identified the insurgents and confronted them. It was a successful operation," the captain said.
In other incidents, a suspicious package was spotted on a road being built by the Canadian troops at the entrance to the village of Bazaar-i-Panjwayi.
The result was a complete halt of work until the threat was lifted after the package was found to be harmless.
For the soldiers, most of them from western Canada and here since February, the last "24 hours were difficult," said one.
They are among 2,500 Canadian troops in Afghanistan as part of a NATO-led International Security Assistance Force of 47,000 mainly Western and Christian soldiers.
There was no Easter Sunday service here as chaplain who tours the region was away.
But, like other Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan, every soldier at the Panjwayi-Zhari base received a treat from home: a chocolate Laura Secord Easter egg with a yellow heart that has brought joy to Canadian children, and adults, for generations.
"Canadian soldiers with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) display Easter Eggs during Easter celebrations at the Kandahar air base. With a bombing that killed two soldiers, rockets attacks and a suspicious parcel, Easter passed almost unnoticed for Canadian troops in southern Afghanistan." (AFP/Shah Marai)
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