KABUL — Canadian infantrymen set out Saturday in armoured vehicles to patrol high-risk areas where they once travelled in light jeeps after their commanding officer procured new equipment from other units.

Light infantry soldiers from Para and November companies of 3rd Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment, boarded eight-wheeled Bison armoured vehicles to venture into mountainous and rural terrain similar to that in which two Canadians riding in an Iltis jeep were killed by a landmine Oct. 2.

"The threat has changed," said Lt.-Col. Don Denne, the officer commanding the Canadian battle group patrolling Afghanistan's capital city.

"We feel that we have been targeted and we have been attacked. In my opinion, it has been an attack of a terrorist nature."

Denne met Friday with his immediate boss, Brig.-Gen. Peter Devlin, to ask for more resources after it became evident that the threat to Canada's 1,950 peace-support troops had changed.

Denne told Devlin -- an armoured officer -- that he didn't have enough armoured vehicles to do the job and he needed more. He said Saturday that Devlin gave him what he wanted.

"There has been a redistribution of resources to give me some armoured vehicles."

The battle group based in southwest Kabul received armoured vehicles from several other Canadian units, including the headquarters unit based with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, as well as administrative units -- the National Command Element and the National Support Element.

Most are Bisons, which carry a heavy machine-gun and have an open central hatch that allows troops to stand up and move around, affording good visibility. They also have a V-shaped hull that can deflect mine blasts.

The additional armour will reopen rural areas that Denne said "are a little bit more dangerous and susceptible to terrorist activity."

Denne had halted some jeep patrols in high-risk areas and is still formulating a long-term plan to address the threat, but he said he's not sure if he will need more vehicles to be shipped from Canada.

"Everything I've asked for from Canada, I've gotten," he said. "The army has bent over backwards to give us what we need to complete our mission both safely and professionally.

"I have the resources now to do what I need to do to complete my mission, bearing in mind my responsibilty to the men and women of my battalion group to do everything I can to ensure their safety."

Iltises will continue to be used in the city itself and other low-risk areas.

Investigators have all but determined that last week's blast was caused by at least one -- and possibly three -- anti-tank mines that may have been planted within 2½ hours of the incident.

Sgt. Robert Short and Cpl. Robbie Berenfenger were killed; three other Canadian paratroopers were wounded. They were the first Kabul peacekeeping casualties since four Germans were killed and 29 wounded in a bus attack last June.

Denne said the mission outline evolved and changed from his early consultations with ISAF commanders before the Canadian troops were deployed.

"I had everything I needed at the outset of this mission based upon the threat analysis at that time," he said.

"But let me tell you, the threat has changed. And there is no doubt about that."

Light-infantry soldiers riding in the 17-tonne Bisons, as they have on past missions in the Balkans and elsewhere, said they felt more secure than in the unarmoured Iltis jeeps, which are about the weight of a mid-sized car.

Sgt. Dave Dunn, a veteran paratrooper from Big River, Sask., said he was glad to get back into the hinterlands as he rode in back of a Bison through a steep river canyon far from the base.

"We have to continue doing our job," said Dunn. "If we don't come out on patrol, it looks like we're sitting at home hiding.

"That means they're winning, and we're not going to let them win."

Dunn, Denne and others did express concern about the heavy vehicles on backroads once they soften up come late fall-winter.

"It's just going to go to shit," said Dunn. "By the looks of the roads, with all the potholes, we're going to have a serious problem, especially once we start getting snow."

Denne said he will have his troops do detailed assessments -- on foot if they have to -- to determine whether roads and tracks are passable.

Meanwhile, however, soldiers are feeling safer and more secure in the Bisons.

"It'll certainly do better against a mine strike than an Iltis," said Cpl. Dan Roach of Greenwood, N.S. "You do feel safer."