On the very day that a new Canadian commander arrived in Kandahar, news comes that the top Taliban fighter in the southern Afghan city has been killed in battle. NATO said today that Mullah Zergay was killed by the coalition’s troops in a firefight with insurgents who were shooting back with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades. This event took place in Kandahar’s Zhari district last week, NATO’s International Security Assistance Force said. Zergay was said to have been responsible for many bombing deaths, along with kidnappings and killings of government employees and village elders. Also today in Kandahar, Canada’s new military commander in Afghanistan, Brig.-Gen. Jon Vance, landed at Kandahar Airfield, where he will lead Canada’s 2,800 military personnel in the country until the fall. Vance takes over from Brig.-Gen. Daniel Menard, who was sent home after being accused of engaging in an intimate relationship with a subordinate. The unexpected change in command comes as Canadian troops prepare to be part of a NATO offensive aimed at flushing the Taliban out of insurgent strongholds this summer.