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Two Canadian soldiers were killed and eight others were wounded Saturday in one of two suicide bombing attacks in Afghanistan near the coalition base in Kandahar.

Cpl. Francisco Gomez, 44, of the Lord Strathcona's Horse of Edmonton and Cpl. Jason Patrick Warren, 29, of Montreal's Black Watch Royal Highland Regiment were killed, while the eight wounded were also Canadian soldiers, CBC News reports.

Seven Afghan civilians were also killed and 30 were injured in the bombings, it was reported.

Maj. Scott Lundy, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition forces, said earlier that eight soldiers were wounded when a suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden car into a coalition vehicle.

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A purported Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for the attacks, which came as coalition forces prepare to take command of the volatile region. Qari Yousaf Ahmadi said both suicide bombers were Afghans. He threatened more suicide attacks and ambushes against coalition and Afghan forces.

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Afghanistan close to anarchy, warns general

· Nato commmander's views in stark contrast to ministers'
· Forces short of equipment and 'running out of time'
Richard Norton-Taylor
Friday July 21, 2006

Guardian

The most senior British military commander in Afghanistan today described the situation in the country as "close to anarchy" with feuding foreign agencies and unethical private security companies compounding problems caused by local corruption.

The stark warning came from Lieutenant General David Richards, head of Nato's international security force in Afghanistan, who warned that western forces there were short of equipment and were "running out of time" if they were going to meet the expectations of the Afghan people.

The assumption within Nato countries had been that the environment in Afghanistan after the defeat of the Taliban in 2002 would be benign, Gen Richards said. "That is clearly not the case," he said today. He referred to disputes between tribes crossing the border with Pakistan, and divisions between religious and secular factions cynically manipulated by "anarcho-warlords".

Corrupt local officials were fuelling the problem and Nato's provincial reconstruction teams in Afghanistan were sending out conflicting signals, Gen Richards told a conference at the Royal United Services Institute in London. "The situation is close to anarchy," he said, referring in particular to what he called "the lack of unity between different agencies".

He described "poorly regulated private security companies" as unethical and "all too ready to discharge firearms". Nato forces in Afghanistan were short of equipment, notably aircraft, but also of medical evacuation systems and life-saving equipment.

Link to article

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