Reply #10: 14 British soldiers killed in crash (Afghanistan)

[leftchick]

http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=4773339e-b255-45a1-8e89-84941ccafde3&k=86470

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Fourteen British soldiers were killed in a plane crash as hundreds of Canadian and coalition soldiers launched a major offensive yesterday to drive Taliban insurgents from a stronghold west of here used as a staging ground for deadly ambushes and terror attacks in Kandahar.

A Canadian armoured vehicle struck a Soviet-era anti-tank mine and a rocket targeted Kandahar airfield late yesterday, but there were no Canadian casualties in the fighting, part of Operation Medusa, that began around daybreak.

Troops with the Royal Canadian Regiment met little resistance as they pushed up from the south through the Panjwaii district before stopping on the banks of the dry Arghandab River, looking north toward the Pashmul area -- a Taliban hotbed where hundreds of insurgents are believed to be entrenched in defensive positions.

The area, between the Panjwaii and Zhari districts, has been the site of fierce fighting over the past four months that has killed at least six Canadian soldiers and left dozens wounded. It has spiritual and symbolic significance to the Taliban and is considered key ground for exerting control on Highway 1, a vital economic artery, and Kandahar, the economic centre of southern Afghanistan and the country's second largest city.