Master Cpl. Scott Vernelli, 28, and Cpl. Tyler Crooks, 24, both of 3rd Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment, died when they were hit by an IED

Four Canadian soldiers, only days away from returning home from Afghanistan, were killed and eight of their comrades were injured shortly after dawn while participating in Canada's largest combat operation since the Korean War.The men died in two separate incidents from improvised explosive devices that had been planted in the dirt by insurgents about 40 kilometres apart. The deaths brought to 116 the number of Canadian soldiers who have died in Afghanistan since the first troops were deployed here early in the spring of 2002.It was "with a heavy heart" that Brig.-Gen. Jon Vance, commander of Canada's Task Force Afghanistan, announced the deaths on Friday in Operation Jaley

, a joint Canadian-American-Afghan operation involving more than 2,000 combat troops.The mission was designed attack Taliban command centres and supply routes."Please do not think of this as a failure on the part of any person or of the mission itself," Brig.-Gen. Vance said. "These wonderful Canadian men were, at the moment of their deaths, engaged directly in the continuing work to keep the insurgency sufficiently at bay to ensure the safety for the population, and to preserve our ability to meet the objectives of the Afghan people, the international community and the Government of Canada."Master Cpl. Scott Vernelli, 28, and Cpl. Tyler Crooks, 24, both of 3rd Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment, died when they were hit by an IED while on a foot patrol in western Zahri District as part of Operation Jaley. An Afghan interpreter was also killed. Five other soldiers from November Company were wounded as was another Afghan interpreter.
In the second incident, which occurred about two hours later, Trooper Jack Bouthillier, 20, and Trooper Corey Hayes, 22, from a reconnaissance squadron of the Petawawa-based Royal Canadian Dragoons died when their armoured vehicle struck an IED in Shah Wali Khot District about 20 kilometres northeast of Kandahar. Three other Dragoons were wounded in the same blast.Master Cpl. Vernelli's wife, in a statement released Friday evening, said his family was devastated.
"Scotty held ultimate pride in lacing up his combat boots every morning. He believed in the mission in Afghanistan and volunteered for this, his 3rd tour in Afghanistan," said Marcie Lane. "His friends will hold him close in their hearts forever ..."One of the Canadians injured in the twin strikes Friday required evacuation to a U.S. Air Force hospital at Landstuhl, Germany, that specializes in dealing with those seriously wounded on the battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq.
The names of the wounded were not released.Master Cpl. Vernelli and Cpl. Crooks of Port Colborne, Ont., were completing a six-hour, overnight dismounted mission -- one of the last they were to have done after six months in Afghanistan -- and were on their way back to their armoured vehicles at the time. The blast that killed them could be heard several kilometres away.On Friday Prime Minister Stephen Harper said he learned of the latest deaths "with profound sorrow.""Our thoughts and prayers are with their loved ones as they deal with this tragic loss. "Master Cpl. Vernelli, Trooper Bouthillier, Cpl. Crooks, and Trooper Hayes' sacrifice will not be forgotten."NDP Leader Jack Layton also expressed his condolences, saying "the sacrifices these men made will never be forgotten."Master Cpl. Vernelli, 28, was married and had a six-month-old daughter. Cpl. Crooks, 24, had what Capt. Kris Reeves described as "unsung heroes-type jobs" in November Company. They were duties that were "not very glamorous" because they were not part of the rifle platoons that do much of the fighting, but that they had often been "out in front, doing some of the hardest jobs," he said.Master Cpl. Vernelli was in Kandahar in 2006 and "wanted to come back but ... wasn't sure in what role," said Reeves, who is November Company's second-in-command. "He wanted a role that he would be able to contribute and do something interesting and more hands on" and had been personally recruited by the company commander. Of Cpl. Crooks, who was known as Crooksy, Reeves said: "He was a young soldier that everybody in the company knows. He was really fit and athletic and always had a seat at the ‘big boy' table. You know what I mean."Officers and the company sergeant major were putting Cpl. Crooks's name forward for consideration to become an officer, Reeves said in an interview conducted a few hours after the incident. "He would have been good," the captain said. "He would have gone down over the next few years and worked on his education and his training and eventually become a platoon commander."Trooper Bouthillier, 20, who was known as Boots was a keen sportsman and martial arts specialist renowned for his sense of humour, Brig.-Gen. Vance said.Trooper Hayes, 22, was remembered by Brig.-Gen. Vance "not only as a friend and comrade in arms but a brother who inspired them to stand up in the face of danger and do what was right."News of the IED strikes reached some soldiers based in Zahri/Panjwaii when senior warrant officers ordered them, joking and griping, out of their cots shortly after 6 a.m. The mood quickly turned sombre when a warrant officer silenced them with the hard news that members of their battle group had died and had been wounded.
"Success in war is costly," Brig.-Gen. Vance said. "We are determined to succeed so that Afghan lives improve, but the insurgents are equally determined to challenge and prevent Afghanistan from flourishing as the nation it so wants to be."The fighting was reportedly intense at times during Operation Jaley.
As part of the operation, which began on Tuesday, a platoon of November Company, acting as mentors to an Afghan army battalion, were almost immediately in contact with the enemy, who were armed with light weapons and rocket propelled grenades.
"In all honesty, the point of the day was to go find a fight. And we did," said Lt. Jeff Lloyd, who led the platoon.Using a mosque as a meeting place, several fighting-age males in one village re-appeared from another compound armed with weapons, Lloyd told a pool reporter.
"Over the past seven months everybody in the platoon has learned to tell when something is about to happen," Lt. Lloyd said. "There is an obvious change of the pattern of life in the villages. The women and the children disappear. The fighting-age males appear and they sulk around. It's funny you'd think, they think, we can't see them. It's some times straight out of a bad movie."According to Lt. Lloyd, much of the enemy's fire was directed at the Afghans, rather than the Canadians. The Canadians called in artillery on Thursday, firing more than a dozen high-explosive shells at a Taliban position.Canadian tanks from the Lord Strathcona's Horse also participated in the operation, as did a U.S. army infantry battalion based to the west of where the Canadians have been operating lately.