OTTAWA — Nearly 200 Canadian soldiers began heading to Afghanistan's violent Kandahar region Wednesday to establish a base for a reconstruction team that will depart in a few weeks.

It's the first time Canada has deployed a provincial reconstruction team or PRT, made up of soldiers, Mounties, members of the Canadian International Development Agency and Foreign Affairs personnel.

A unit from Canadian Forces Base Kingston, Ont., began to leave Canada on Wednesday. The soldiers will prepare a camp for the reconstruction team at a U.S. air base in Kandahar.

"They'll be departing out of Trenton (Ont.) on service flights over the next couple of days," said Defence Department spokesman Capt. Darren Steele.

Unlike the Canadian soldiers at Camp Julien in Kabul, who had to set up camp from scratch, the startup team will have buildings to work with.

"They'll go in, prepare the quarters, the work area, lay the lines for computers," said Steele.

The full 250-member reconstruction team is scheduled to begin flying over in about three weeks, coming mainly from Edmonton's First Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group.

"This is the first one for us going in," said Steele. "Their mission in broad terms is ongoing support of the government of Afghanistan, supporting the institution's ... reconstruction projects.

"A lot of what they'll be doing is laying the groundwork for Canada's PRT operations in the future."

Canada's elite Joint Task Force 2 commandos are also expected to provide protection for the team, although Defence officials refused to provide details or even confirm their participation.

The provincial reconstruction team operation will be a logistical nightmare for the Defence Department.

At the same time, soldiers from Canadian Forces Base Petawawa, Ont., will head next month for Camp Julien, where they'll replace the 700 Canadians who've spent the last six months working with ISAF, the NATO-led international peacekeeping force in Kabul.

"It's a lot of co-ordination to move the troops," said Steele. "They'll all be moving at the same time."

As operations begin in the Kandahar area, where dangerous al-Qaida insurgents and the Taliban remain, soldiers in Kabul will work double duty.

"While they're providing ongoing support to ISAF, they will be also preparing Camp Julien for a close down and move to Kandahar later this year," Steele said.

Some of the equipment from Kabul will be sent for repairs or storage. However, the bulk of it will be forwarded to Kandahar, where Canada is sending an additional 1,000 soldiers, beginning in December.

Critics of the provincial reconstruction team mission warn that Canadian soldiers could face dangers in Kandahar similar to those seen by American forces in Iraq.

U.S. officials predict the fighting in Afghanistan will intensify in the coming months as al-Qaida and Taliban fighters attempt to destabilize national assembly elections scheduled for September.