A Canadian soldier was killed Sunday in a bomb explosion near Kandahar city in southern Afghanistan, Canadian media reported. ( dpa )
The 25-year-old soldier was in an armoured vehicle as part of a convoy on its way to an Afghan army checkpoint when it hit the roadside bomb, the Globe and Mail newspaper reported. He is the 79th Canadian killed in Afghanistan since 2002, and a Canadian diplomat was killed there in 2006.
The majority of Canada's 2,500 soldiers in Afghanistan are deployed in Kandahar province, but their involvement in the conflict has caused political controversy in the North American nation.
Last month, Prime Minister Stephen Harper proposed that the troops remain in Afghanistan until 2011, in a compromise designed to appease the opposition by calling for Canadian troops to refocus their role from combat to training the fledging Afghan security forces and reconstruction. The proposal is due for a vote later in March.
Canada is among the allies, including Britain, Denmark and the Netherlands, who along with the United States have carried the main brunt of fighting in Afghanistan.