Roadside bomb destroyed armoured vehicle

An Iqaluit-born soldier is dead after his armoured vehicle was blown up by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan July 4.

Corp. Jordan Anderson, 25, was one of six Canadian soldiers killed July 4 when the armoured vehicle in which they were riding struck a roadside bomb 20 kilometres southwest of Kandahar City. An Afghan interpreter also died in the attack. The vehicle was returning from a joint patrol with members of the Afghan National Army.

Anderson, born in Iqaluit, was a member of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry based in Edmonton and serving in Kandahar. Flags around the city were lowered to half-mast last week and Premier Paul Okalik extended his condolences to Anderson's family.

"It is a difficult time," he said. "But I must say that we have to do our part in making sure the rest of our country and the world remains a safe place."

The deaths bring the number of Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan since 2002 to 66. Anderson, who according to news reports also lived in Inuvik and Tuktoyuktuk, is the first soldier from the North to die in the conflict.

"These Canadian soldiers gave their lives helping to provide this security and to help create the conditions needed for the people [of Afghanistan] to live normal lives and begin to have the kinds of opportunities that Canadians often take for granted," Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor said in a statement. "Canada will remain forever grateful for their sacrifice, and we are all saddened by this loss."

The RG-31 Nyala armoured patrol vehicle in which the soldiers were traveling is said to be the safest in the Canadian military arsenal. According to the website of the Canadian American Strategic Review at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, the RG-31 can carry up to 11 soldiers and is designed to withstand blasts from landmines and roadside bombs.