Canadians repair key Kandahar bridge blown up in suicide bomber attack

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Canadian soldiers are repairing a key bridge on the road between Kandahar city and Pakistan after it was badly damaged by a suicide bomber's blast earlier this month.

The March 1 attack on a convoy of NATO-led troops killed four Afghan civilians and one foreign soldier. The attacker struck the convoy on a bridge spanning the Tarnak river, which is several kilometres away from Kandahar Airfield where Canadian and other coalition troops are based.

For the past two days, Canadian troops have been putting metal replacement pieces over the blown-up sections of the bridge.

"What the plan is, as we're speaking, is to over-gap that was damaged or partially destroyed by the vehicle-borne IED," said Warrant Officer Eric Rousseau.

The bridge itself is 250 to 300 metres long. The Canadians are replacing a 42-metre section damaged by the blast.

Earlier in the week, Afghan and Canadian soldiers assembled pieces of the bridge within the relative safe confines of Kandahar Airfield. Those pieces were then trucked out to the bridge site.

Although Afghan soldiers were involved in the initial stage of bridge building, Canadian and Afghan journalists who visited the bridge site Thursday saw only Canadian troops doing the repair work.

The military expects to finish repairing the bridge in the next few days.

Several countries share responsibility for protecting the bridge and the land around Kandahar Airfield.

A British infantry unit protects the land around the airport. Afghan police carry out most road checks, while sweeps along major highways for roadside bombs are done by a U.S. army Stryker brigade.