Canada's Deadliest Battle

In 32 years. Our friends from up north are learning insurgency warfare the hard way in Afghanistan:

At 10 p.m. Tuesday, on a cool, cloudless night in Afghanistan, Pte. Robert Costall and 30 fellow soldiers on Canada's quick reaction force were scrambled into action and whisked by helicopter from Kandahar Airfield to the lawless wastes of Sangin district, a difficult corner of a dangerous land.
Five hours later, Pte. Costall was dead, and his mates were in the midst of the most serious and deadly battle faced by Canadian soldiers in 32 years.
Not since the death of two Canadian "peacekeepers" in 1974 -- killed defending Nicosia airport in Cyprus -- has a Canadian soldier been killed in action during a firefight with enemy troops. "Pte. Robert Costall died defending his fellow soldiers," Canadian Brig.-Gen. David Fraser, commander of all coalition forces in southern Afghanistan, said yesterday. "We will not forget his sacrifice."

Please read the whole article of this brilliant combined air/land operation led by the Canucks. Well done fellows, and sorry for your loss.