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Troops push into Taliban area: In biggest operation to date, hundreds of soldiers move to shore up control of volatile rural areas (MITCH POTTER, 3/10/06, Toronto Star)

Canadian Forces today plunged deep into the insurgent heartland of southern Afghanistan in a major show of force designed to shore up the fledgling Afghan regime's tenuous hold on volatile rural areas.

The mission, involving hundreds of soldiers from two companies of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, amounts to the largest Canadian mobilization since the arrival of 2,200 troops in Kandahar last month.

Code-named Operation Peacemaker, or Sola Kowel in the language of the ethnic Pashtun, the mission will carry through to the end of March with the insertion of troops by land and by air into isolated pockets of Kandahar province, military officials said.

The operation is expected to be a significantly enlarged version of the dual-purpose strategy pursued by smaller Canadian missions in recent weeks.