But as to its impact on our operational effectiveness and what's already underway here, it's negligible. |
I think if you ask around, this is precisely what we train for. This was expected and mentally our soldiers are up for this. |
I'm pleased to say that the occupants of the vehicle, although somewhat frightened by the whole experience, are fine. |
It's very sad news. We were not aware that a young child was among the bystanders at the attack site. You can imagine how that affects us. |
That led to several shots being fired directly at the vehicle in an effort to disable it. |
The crew who were in the vehicle would have been a little shaken up, but they've carried on with their task. |
The focus of this operation is actually to engage the local population, including the village elders, and speak with them about the fact that we will be patrolling more regularly in the area. Show them that we mean them no harm. |
This is their version of events and we accept that and we are now going to let the investigation determine if there are any variations to that. |
We were in the air for about 30 minutes to see if we could spot anyone moving in a suspicious fashion. |
You deal with it a person at a time, you listen to what they have to say, offer support where you can, and work with them to find a solution. But in this case, there's no happy solution. |