OTTAWA, June 4 (UPI)
Canada is spending more on training its troops to deal with improvised explosive devices, which are blamed for many Canadian casualties in Afghanistan.
At least 158 Canadian personnel have died and scores have been wounded in the conflict, many of them by IEDs, since Canada became involved in the NATO-led operations in Afghanistan. The fatalities are the highest in any single Canadian military mission since the Korean War.
Canada withdrew its combat forces last year but maintains more than 900 personnel, most of them for training Afghan armed forces.
Other than shooting incidents, some involving Afghans being trained by NATO forces, IEDs pose the biggest threat to Western troops deployed in the country.
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