The body of Canada's 112th soldier to die in Afghanistan has been returned to Canadian soil.
A military jet carrying the remains of Trooper Marc Diab landed at CFB Trenton in eastern Ontario at about 2 p.m. ET on Thursday.
Diab -- a 22-year-old from Mississauga, Ont. -- died Sunday as a result of a roadside bombing. The incident wounded four other soldiers in the armoured vehicle transporting the men.
Diab served with the Royal Canadian Dragoons, based at CFB Petawawa, which is northwest of Ottawa.
"Hero coming home today," wrote Sgt. Tim Burrows of Toronto Police Service's traffic services unit on Twitter, an online social messaging service.
Burrows expected the motorcade transporting Diab's body to enter the GTA about 3:45 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Highway 401. In September 2007, the province renamed the stretch between Trenton and Toronto as the Highway of Heroes.
The OPP has always told people to exit the highway if they wish to pay respects to fallen soldiers, and not merely pull over to the shoulder when the motorcade approaches.
People gathered on overpasses over the highway to pay their respects to Diab and his family. Canadian flags could be seen fluttering, as could the flag of Lebanon -- the land of Diab's birth.
The final destination is the coroner's office in downtown Toronto. Post-mortem examinations are routinely performed on the bodies of soldiers killed in Afghanistan.
Diab's mother told reporters on Monday that her son, born in Lebanon, been proud to serve his country and had always anted to be a soldier.
"Marc called himself a soldier since he was probably eight, or before that," Jihan Diab said. "What a hero he is. He was never scared. He wanted peace for every single part of the world."
Marc had been planning to propose to his long-time girlfriend and was planning to buy an apartment when his current tour in Afghanistan ended.
Funeral arrangements haven't been made public yet.
With files from The Canadian Press
