The two Canadian soldiers killed on Monday in a suicide bomb attack in southern Afghanistan are Cpl. Albert Storm and Chief Warrant Officer Robert Girouard, the Canadian military says.

Cpl. Albert Storm was based in CFB Petawawa, Ont., and was a member of the 1st Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment Battle Group.
(Sgt. Ron Hartlen/DND)

Their identities were released the same day a similar attack, also in the volatile province of Kandahar, was reported to have injured another Canadian soldier.

Storm and Girouard were based at CFB Petawawa, Ont., and were members of the 1st Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment Battle Group. Girouard, a regimental sergeant major, was originally from Bathurst, N.B.

Storm and Girouard died when a suicide car bomber drove his vehicle into a convoy of military vehicles on the outskirts of Kandahar in the Panjwaii district early Monday and detonated explosives. They were travelling in a Bison, an eight-wheeled armoured vehicle.

The Panjwaii is considered a Taliban stronghold and has been the scene of fierce fighting between NATO soldiers and Taliban militants in recent months.

Chief Warrant Officer Robert Girouard was with the same regiment and was originally from Bathurst, N.B.
(Sgt. Ron Hartlen/DND)

Harper praises soldiers' courage, defends mission

Prime Minister Stephen Harper, attending the NATO Summit Tuesday in Latvia, offered his condolences to the soldiers' families in a statement.

Harper said the resolve and courage they demonstrated were in the finest tradition of Canada's beliefs and values, and that their deaths would not deter Canada from its mission to assist the Afghan people.

In Tuesday's afternoon attack by a suicide bomber, the Canadian soldier — whose name wasn't released — suffered minor injuries while also travelling in a Bison, just south of the Arghandab River.

Lt.-Cmdr. Kris Phillips of the Canadian Forces in Afghanistan said that bomb attack failed and was "completely ineffective." The soldier received flash burns.

Forty-four Canadian soldiers have now died in Afghanistan since troops arrived in April 2002. Canada has more than 2,000 soldiers in the troubled country, with the majority stationed in Kandahar.