KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — The Canadian military says the Taliban planted roughly twice as many homemade bombs in Afghanistan during the last quarter of 2008 as they did during the same stretch of 2007.

Indeed, improvised explosive devices -- also known as IEDs -- killed 10 Canadian soldiers between September and December of last year, compared with three during the same period the year before.

At the same time, however, Capt. Roy Ulrich, second-in-command of Task Force Kandahar's anti-bomb squad, says more roadside bombs are being located and neutralized than ever before.

Ulrich says while heavy precipitation in late 2007 made it difficult for insurgents to plant bombs, a relatively mild fall and winter last year made for ideal conditions for the Taliban.

He says the Taliban has all but abandoned face-to-face fighting with coalition forces and thrown their weight behind a strategy to litter the rugged terrain with homemade bombs.