Several Canadian soldiers and a reporter with the Canadian Press were shaken up but unharmed after their vehicle hit a roadside bomb in Afghanistan on Sunday.

Canadian Press reporter Dene Moore said the vehicle hit the bomb during Operation Keeping Goodwill, a combat offensive launched early Saturday by 700 Canadian troops in the Zhari district, west of the city of Kandahar.

Tactical Operations Officer Maj. Eric LaForest speaks to reporters Sunday about the military's mission in the Zhari district, west of the Afghanistan city of Khandahar.
(CBC)

Earlier Sunday, in a separate incident, two Canadian soldiers were wounded with shrapnel after a tank struck a roadside bomb in the second day of the major offensive against the Taliban, a military official said.

Capt. Josée Bilodeau said a Leopard tank that pushes a roller ahead of it to clear roads of bombs struck the device and was slightly damaged.

The soldiers who were walking not far from the vehicle were struck by shrapnel, Bilodeau said.

They received treatment at the Kandahar base and were expected to return to work on Monday, Bilodeau said. She didn't give any further details about the identities of the soldiers.

The latest combat operation involves most of the Canadian battle group in Kandahar, which is working alongside members of the Afghan National Army to try to drive out Taliban fighters.

The CBC's David Common reported that one of the major objectives of the mission was to go to the urgent aid of a group of Canadian soldiers cutoff at a forward strategic position, a detail the military failed to mention until questioned about it.

The group has been under constant attack since it arrived a couple of weeks ago, Common reported. The road that leads up to the group's camp has been littered with roadside bombs, forcing commanders to resupply the soldiers by helicopter, Common said. Over the mission's course, a larger force has moved up the road and cleared it in a huge show of force involving artillery and armoured vehicles, he said.

Canadian soldiers were in the Zhari district a year ago, but they couldn't hold back insurgents, Common said.

"That's modern warfare," Maj. Eric LaForest said. "We'll go back up there as often as the Afghan population wants us to go back."

An estimated 2,500 Canadian soldiers are serving in Afghanistan, mostly in the Kandahar region, as part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force.

Canada has lost 70 soldiers since it first deployed troops in 2002, shortly after the United States invaded in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks and ousted the Taliban government.

With files from the Canadian Press