震惊 哀悼

[SIZE="3"]Five Canadians were killed in a bomb blast Wednesday in Afghanistan — four soldiers and a Calgary Herald reporter.

Brig.-Gen. Daniel Ménard said a Canadian civilian was also wounded in the attack at about 4 p.m. local time.

Ménard said their armoured vehicle was struck by an improvised explosive device in the city of Kandahar. The attack came during a community security patrol to both gather information on the pattern of life and to maintain security in the area.

"The journalist was travelling with them to tell the story of what Canada's soldiers are doing in Afghanistan," he said.

Ménard said the military is notifying the families of the soldiers and more information will be provided once this has been completed.

The journalist was identified as Michelle Lang of the Calgary Herald.

Lang, 34, grew up in Vancouver and was a well-respected health reporter for the Herald, winning a National Newspaper Award in 2008 for best beat reporting. She had also worked in Regina, Moose Jaw and Prince George.

Friends described Lang, who was engaged, as bright with a sharp tongue and quick wit.

"She came across as sweet and quiet — but could bring a room down with laughter with one observation," one friend said. "She was a fabulous friend: kind, loyal, thoughtful. No number of adjectives can describe her talent, her charm or the hole she leaves in the lives of those close to her."

CBC reporter James Murray, who is stationed in Afghanistan, said: "She was the kind of journalist you would want to have here. She was kind and decent, and curious."

"She'd been in Afghanistan for just a few weeks and she had spent a lot of that time in the field, bravely going and putting on a helmet and body armour and going where the Canadian soldiers go, seeing what they did, giving a first-hand account of the Canadian mission in Afghanistan," he said.

"And reporting in that way has cost her her life," Murray said.

The huge blast occurred just 1,500 metres from the Dand district centre, which Canadian soldiers helped rebuild after a suicide bombing there in April.

Witnesses described panic among local residents, as Canadian soldiers rushed to secure the area and airlift the blast victims to medical care.

Nevertheless, Ménard declared that Dand remained a "safe area" and expressed confidence that this was an isolated incident.

The death of the five Canadians comes a week after Lt. Andrew Nuttall was killed by an explosive near the village of Nakhonay in Panjwaii District, about 25 kilometres southwest of Kandahar city.

It was the worst single day for Canadian casualties in Afghanistan since six soldiers were killed on July 4, 2007, when their large armoured vehicle struck a roadside bomb on a well-used road in the Panjwaii district, about 20 kilometres southwest of the city of Kandahar.

Since 2002, when Canada started sending soldiers to Afghanistan, 138 of them have been killed.

The casualties Wednesday bring the number of Canadian civilians killed in Afghanistan to four. Lang is the first Canadian journalist to be killed while covering the conflict in Afghanistan. Seven journalists from other countries have also died.

The attack happened the same day eight Americans were killed in an attack on a military base in the eastern province of Khost.[/SIZE]