WATCH ABOVE: Captain Paul Forget of the Royal Canadian Navy confirmed Monday that Canadian special forces have exchanged gunfire with ISIS members twice in the past week. Vassy Kapelos reports.
TORONTO – Canadian Forces exchanged fire with ISIS forces in “self-defence” in two more incidents since the last briefing on the country’s involvement in the mission against Islamic State militants in Iraq.
Navy Captain Paul Forget said Monday that since last week’s event during which Canadian special forces returned fire “after being engaged” by ISIS, two similar events occurred.
“In both cases, Canadian special operations forces, again, acting in self-defense effectively returned fire, neutralizing the threat,” said Forget. “There were no injuries as a result of these engagements.”
WATCH ABOVE: Department of Defence updates the nation on anti-ISIS campaign
Forget emphasized the risk to Canadian special operations forces “remains low” but “does not mean no risk,” and said CF-18 jetfighters conducted 12 additional air strikes in support of Iraqi forces preparing to liberate Mosul, the country’s second largest city.
When asked by Global News reporter Vassy Kapelos if further exchanges of gunfire might indicate risk has indeed increased, Forget replied: “It’s not for me to speculate on that.”
WATCH ABOVE: NDP leader Thomas Mulcair and Minister of National Defence Rob Nicholson got into a heated exchange Monday in the House of Commons over reports that Canadian forces have twice in the past week engaged ISIS militants in direct combat
Opposition parties have expressed concern over what they believe is “mission creep” in Iraq, since the firefights were made public last week. The government maintains that was strictly in self-defence but Liberals and New Democrats see it as proof that the mission, which they opposed, has expanded.
With files from The Canadian Press
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