Combat engineer killed in Afghanistan

KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan – Sgt. James MacNeil of Glace Bay, N.S., was killed Monday morning while on a foot patrol in Nakhoney, about 20 kilometres southwest of Kandahar.

MacNeil was a combat engineer with 2 Combat Engineer Regiment of Canadian Forces Base Petawawa, Ont. A 10-year army veteran, the 28-year-old Cape Bretoner was two months into his fourth tour in Afghanistan.

The sapper, who was known to his comrades and friends as "Jimmy," was patrolling with other members of the Royal Canadian Regiment battle group in Panjwaii District, when he was killed by an improvised explosive device – a homemade landmine.

He is the 148th Canadian soldier to die in Afghanistan since 2002.

"Insurgent forces use improvised explosive devices to instil fear in the local population and restrict the efforts of those attempting to aid and protect that population," Brig.-Gen. Jon Vance said in announcing MacNeil’s death Monday evening near a memorial honouring all those Canadians who have fallen in Afghanistan.

"Canadian soldiers and combat engineers like Sgt. MacNeil put their lives on the line every day to rid Afghans of this indiscriminate weapon."

The general commands a joint Canadian/American force of nearly 6,000 troops a little less than half of whom are Canadians.

The last Canadian to die before MacNeil was also a combat engineer conducting a foot patrol. Sgt. Martin Goudreault of the Edmonton-based 1 Combat Engineer Regiment was killed by an improvised explosive device on June 6. Like MacNeil, Goudreault also died in Nakhoney. Canadian troops seized the village from the Taliban last winter when insurgents fled rather than fight for that territory.

The bulk of Canada’s combat forces are now concentrated in Panjwaii, which along with neighbouring Zhari and Arghandab is considered the three most dangerous districts in Kandahar. The province is the spiritual home and military and political heartland of the Taliban and is widely regarded as the key to winning or losing the war in Afghanistan.

While Canadian and American troops under the command of Vance work on a plan to secure Kandahar City by this fall, Canadian and American forces deployed on the western and northern approaches of the provincial capital are attempting to slowly push concentrations of Taliban away from populated areas. Part of the plan includes living among Afghans with Afghan soldiers and police after the areas have been cleared of the enemy.

MacNeil was saluted Monday by Vance as a soldier who made others laugh.

"His troops unanimously agreed that he was someone who was fun to be with," the general said. "He couldn’t say no to a social gathering and was inevitably the life of the party.

But MacNeil was also an excellent engineer. After his last tour of Afghanistan, he was chosen as the outstanding master corporal of 2 Mechanized Brigade Group, Vance said.

"Sgt. MacNeil was a courageous, dedicated soldier who gave his life trying to help the Afghan people build a better future for themselves and their country," Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in a news release.

Defence Minister Peter MacKay echoed his sentiments, noting that Sgt. MacNeil "was bringing hope to a population that has seen much hardship and turmoil."

"His passing illustrates some of the risks that the selfless men and women of the Canadian Forces face every day in carrying out their duties," MacKay added.

Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean said Canadians "shall forever be indebted to him for the tremendous perseverance, courage, heroism and generosity that he exhibited."

As well as MacNeil, five other NATO soldiers were killed Monday in Afghanistan. Three of those killed were Australian special forces troops, who died along with an American soldier in a helicopter crash. It was the second NATO helicopter to go down this month.

According to running tally kept by Agence France-Presse, 281 NATO troops have been killed in Afghanistan this year.

On a month by month basis, the casualty rate for 2010 is slightly higher than last year. Senior commanders predicted after U.S. President Barack Obama ordered more troops to Afghanistan last winter that the number of dead in the south was expected to rise this summer.

With MacNeil’s death Monday, 10 Canadian soldiers have died in Afghanistan this year – the lowest number of Canadians to have died by this time of year since the Martin government redeployed forces from Kabul to Kandahar in 2006.

Thirty-two Canadians died in Afghanistan last year and in 2008. The worst year for Canadian casualties was 2006, when 36 soldiers died.

Like MacNeil and Goudreault, more than two-thirds of the Canadians who have been killed in Afghanistan drove or walked over improvised explosive devices that had been buried in the sand by insurgents. Few of the Canadians who have died were killed in direct combat with the enemy.

Harper has insisted that all Canada’s soldiers will leave Afghanistan by the end of next year. Parliament decided two years ago that Canada should wrap up its combat mission in Kandahar by next summer, with Canadians serving there being given six months after that to pack up their gear.

However, some members of a parliamentary delegation that visited Kandahar and Kabul last month said they were open to discussing the possibility of several hundred Canadian troops participating in a new, much less risky training mission that, if approved by Parliament, would begin next year. The move was backed in a new policy statement by the Liberal party last week.

With violence expected to rise further this year, the UN announced Monday that it was continuing with the withdrawal of some of its people based in Afghanistan.