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11/18/2008
NATO says its troops have fired 20 artillery rounds at insurgents inside Pakistan after coordinating with the South Asian nation.
The military alliance says it fired the rounds after insurgents attacked its troops in Afghanistan's eastern Paktika province with rockets from across the border.
Pakistani officials could not immediately be reached for comment.
Officials say relations between NATO-led troops in Afghanistan and Pakistan's military are improving.
However, Pakistan has been complaining about unilateral missile strikes conducted by U.S. forces into its tribal areas. Pakistani officials say the U.S. strikes violate their country's sovereignty. (AP, ccg)
(Natynczyk on Afghan kidnappings)
Canada's top military commander is urging the media to show the same restraint it used in the Mellissa Fung case for the next such kidnapping.
General Walt Natynczyk says the unprecedented news blackout of the CBC reporter's kidnapping in Afghanistan was absolutely necessary to save her life. The kidnapping of western aid workers, diplomats and journalists is increasing in Afghanistan.
Natynczyk says it's reasonable to expect there will be a next time. He tossed accolades for the media's ``self discipline'' in handling the total blackout last month.
He would not discuss the advice he gave to the Conservative government. Nor would he get into the military's role in the efforts to rescue Fung, who was snatched by Afghan thugs at a refugee camp south of Kabul.
Michel Drapeau, a retired colonel and information expert, says the blackout set a precedent and has put the media on a slippery slope. (The Canadian Press, ccg)
(Afghan-Cda-Minesweepers)
The military has ordered more specialized vehicles for detecting roadside bombs for use in Afghanistan.
A South Carolina-based company says it has won a contract to deliver nearly four dozen vehicles to the Canadian military.
Fourteen of the vehicles are Force Protection's Buffalo A2 route-clearance vehicles and 34 are its Cougar vehicles. The contract to Force Protection is worth about $49 million dollars U-S and the trucks are slated for delivery next year.
Canadian combat engineers use the trucks in tandem to detect mines in the gravel and soft-bed roadways of Kandahar. The Defence Department isn't commenting on the purchase.
It's not clear if some of the vehicles will be kept in Canada for training.
The vast majority of the 97 Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan have died as a result of roadside bombs and improvised explosive devices. (The Canadian Press, ccg)
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