COMOX (NEWS1130) – Dozens of Canadian soldiers are in Comox for the next two weeks training to deal with improvised explosive devices.

The sometimes crude and effective weapons killed numerous Canadian soldiers during the war in Afghanistan.

Exercise Tazz-Runner is a first of its kind held in Canada and will challenge soldiers to deal with IEDs.

“Throughout the training activities there will be some components where they are using live explosives.  These are done in a training range set up in order to provide maximum safety for not only our military personnel but for the public as well,” explains Lieutenant Trevor Reid with 19 Wing Comox.

“IEDs are constantly being refined and our experts are, of course, doing training exercises like this in order to keep their skill set up to date and keep up with whatever the latest IED technologies are,” adds Reid.

Even with Canada’s combat mission in Afghanistan is over, Reid says they want to be prepared to deal with IEDs if soldiers are sent into another war.

Much of the training will take place at Canadian Forces Base Comox however soldiers will also operate at the Seal Bay training area and HMCS Quadra (Goose Spit). Residents in these areas are warned they may hear some explosion noises throughout the day.

The exercises ends on March 1st.