OTTAWA, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) -- Canada will send eight specially modified CH-146 Griffon helicopters in the new year to southern Afghanistan to protect the CH-47 Chinook transport choppers for the 2,500 troops fighting against Taliban there, Defense Minister Peter MacKay said Wednesday.

    MacKay made the announcement during a speech in the House of Commons.

    The Canadian troops have been in need of the attack helicopters since first deployed in southern Afghanistan in 2006, but Ottawa had refused to provide them and instead asked NATO allies for help.

    The Griffon light utility helicopters have been adapted to carry missiles, a machine-gun and advanced sensors, MacKay said.

    Big transport helicopters, such as the Chinook, rarely operate in combat zones without attack helicopters to protect them against ground fire.

    Since 2002, 98 Canadian soldiers have died in Afghanistan, most of them victims of roadside bomb explosions.