愛污传媒

Coalition troops lined the tarmac at Kandahar Airfield to bid farewell to three more Canadian soldiers, whose bodies were then flown out of the country under darkness.

During the ramp ceremony, Maj. Malcolm Berry asked troops to remember the three men for their bravery and how their work made Afghanistan more secure.

Cpl. Stephen Frederick Bouzane, Pte. Joel Vincent Wiebe and Sgt. Christos Karigiannis were killed by a roadside bomb.

Bouzane was described by close friend and roommate Cpl. Ryan Nistor as shy, but willing to "help you through anything."

"Just his company coming home from work. Just to come home and talk about what he did and what I did that day, just basically hang out and talk. I'm going to miss that a lot," said Nistor at a sombre Edmonton Garrison.

Bouzane, 26, was also remembered at his former Scarborough, Ont. high school, Jean Vanier Catholic Secondary. The school's flag flew at half-mast for Bouzane, who grew up in Scarborough and graduated in 2001.

Karigiannis, a 31-year-old Montrealer, was remembered by Lt.-Col. Wayne Eyre on Thursday as "one of the best sergeants" in the 3rd Battalion Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry.

He was "extremely talented, very personable, very fit, a qualified U.S. army ranger, a very keen paratrooper. He is the epitome of a Canadian non-commissioned officer," said Eyre, commanding officer of the battalion.

Karigiannis' mother returned to her Laval, Que. home on Thursday, cutting short a vacation. The family asked for privacy, but cousin Nick Katris held up a photo of his nephew, and asked, "Simply, why? 'Cause there's no reason. No reason."

Wiebe, 22, had a fiancee in Edmonton where his regiment is based. She told reporters the family would be making a public statement at the base on Friday. Pte. Keith Brigden, who had known Wiebe for two years, described him as an "amazing soldier" who could always be counted on to boost morale

"No matter what kind of situation you were in he was the one guy that could get everyone laughing," said Brigden.

NATO solider killed

A NATO soldier was also killed Thursday in eastern Afghanistan. NATO said two soldiers were taken to hospital after hitting a landmine. One of them later died.

Troops from the U.S.-led coalition and the Afghan army are involved in an operation against "an important group of enemies'' in Paktika province, said the province's governor.

The nationality of the soldier was not released but most of NATO's soldiers in the east are American.

The incident follows the death of the three Canadians, killed near Kandahar when the open-topped, unarmoured vehicle they were travelling in was struck by an improvised explosive device.

"Canada has occupied and protected this area for about a year now and it's considered fairly safe," CTV's South Asia Bureau Chief Paul Workman said Thursday from Kandahar.

"The Canadians have a system of defence, they have night vision ability and yet Taliban fighters were able to sneak in somehow, plant a bomb, and blow up a very easy target."

The fallen soldiers were members of 3rd Battalion Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, based in Edmonton.

The three victims were the only occupants of an M-Gator -- a six-wheeled, all-terrain vehicle, which was part of a resupply convoy between two checkpoints less than a kilometre apart.

Brig.-Gen. Tim Grant described the vehicle as "much like a John Deere tractor you would get back home."

He said the military will reassess its use of the vehicle.

"This is an unfortunate accident. We will review our procedures and if we determine we need to change them we will do so," said Grant.

"But at the current time we look at this as an unfortunate accident."

Workman said the vehicles are commonly used to resupply various checkpoints in areas where the Taliban is active and a threat.

"In spite of the fact that the military said it's reassessing the use of these 'soft' vehicles nothing has changed out in the field," Workman told 愛污传媒net on Thursday.

"I asked pointedly that question this morning and I was told that, yes, the vehicles are still being used today as they were yesterday."

The death toll for Canadian military personnel in Afghanistan has now reached 60. Twenty-seven of those deaths involved members of PPCLI.

About 2,400 people have been killed so far this year in Afghanistan, including civilians, militants and troops, according to an AP tally.

With a report from CTV's Chris Eby, Caroline van Vlaardingen and files from The Associated Press and The Canadian Press