TORONTO (AP) — The Canadian military says a Canadian soldier has died after stepping on an improvised explosive device in the Panjwaii district of Kandahar province in Afghanistan.
Canadian Brig.-Gen. Daniel Menard said Saturday that Sgt. John Faught, 44, died near the town of Nakhoney in Kandahar.
Menard says Faught was a father figure to his much younger battalion members.
Faught is the first Canadian soldier killed this year in Afghanistan and the 139th of the Afghan mission.
His death comes two weeks after four Canadian soldiers and a journalist were killed when their armored vehicle hit a roadside bomb.
Canada has about 2,500 soldiers in Afghanistan, mostly in the volatile south.