The death toll among Canadian soldiers serving in Afghanistan rose to 155 Sunday when 24-year-old Corporal Yannick Scherrer of Montreal was killed by a roadside bomb.
Cpl. Scherrer was on foot patrol near Nakhonay, southwest of Kandahar City, when he died.
He was a member of the 1st Battalion, Royal 22nd Regiment, based in CFB Valcartier in Quebec.
It was his first tour of duty in Afghanistan, an uncle of the slain soldier confirmed in a brief telephone Interview. The uncle declined to elaborate, saying any further information should come from Cpl. Scherrer's father, who was not immediately available.
Cpl. Scherrer was the first Canadian to die in Afghanistan since Dec. 18, when Cpl. Steve Martin was killed, also felled by an IED.
Cpl. Sherrer was on a security patrol with the Afghan National Army when he was killed Sunday.
In a statement issued in Kandahar Monday, Brigadier-General Dean Milner, Canada's top soldier in Afghanistan, expressed condolences on behalf of the military, adding that “Canadians can be proud of the progress our soldiers have accomplished for the people of Kandahar province.”
Prime Minister Stephen Harper also voiced sympathy for the corporal's relatives and friends.
Nakhonay, a war-battered village of about 1,000 people, has been a hot spot in counterinsurgency efforts. At least five of the 17 Canadians killed in the past year in Afghanistan died in Nakhonay, and many others have been injured there.
Canada's 2,800 troops stationed in Kandahar will end combat operations by the end of July, but up to 950 troops and support staff will remain in Afghanistan on the training mission until 2014.
Since the Canadian mission in Afghanistan began in 2002, the great majority of deaths have resulted from what are termed improvised explosive devices, which commonly take the form of bombs concealed beneath the surface of roads or hidden by other means.
Four Canadian civilians have also been killed: a diplomat, a reporter and two aid workers.
