Canadian soldiers made progress in a campaign to shut down a network of Taliban fighters who are making improvised explosive devices (IEDs) west of Kandahar city, a senior officer said Saturday.

"We have disrupted some of the cells and taken some components off the market." Lt.-Col. Shawn Luckhurst said after troops swept through villages in Zhari district this week, looking to disrupt militant activities.

Luckhurst said the key to disrupting these cells is to target not just the bomb planters, but the people who plan, organize and finance the networks.

"The aim was to get out there and cause them to be off-balance," said Maj. Fraser Auld, a battle group planner, after the campaign ended.Maj. Fraser Auld, Canadian Forces, speaking with CBC in Kandahar. (CBC)

For months now, soldiers have been following and watching militants suspected of assembling bombs in a region that has long been a hotbed of Taliban activity and support.

"The networks that we're dealing with — in particular, in the area that we were focused on —they had some freedom of movement. And when they have freedom of movement and they're able to do their business, obviously they're able to execute their mission, which is to implant IEDs," Auld said.

Military officials said there were no Canadian casualties as soldiers fought suspected Taliban militants all week, storming their hideouts and killing an unspecified number of them, as part of a larger NATO push in southern Afghanistan to target the networks that build and plant roadside bombs and booby traps.

The vast majority of the 83 Canadian soldiers who've lost their lives in Afghanistan have died as a result of improvised explosives.

The last soldier to die in action, Cpl. Michael Starker, was killed in the Zhari district, near the community of Pashmul.

With files from the Canadian Press