The six Canadian soldiers killed on the weekend in Afghanistan were due back at the main Kandahar base within days after a six-week mission in the desert, their commanding officer said Monday.

Lt.-Col. Rob Walker, commander of the Royal Canadian Regiment battle group in Afghanistan, said the soldiers had been protecting convoys in the desert region near Helmand province.

The LAV III has been criticized for tipping over easily.
(Department of National Defence)

They were expected to arrive at the main Kandahar air base within days for a rest and to refit their vehicles after six weeks in the field.

The six died instantly and two other Canadians were wounded when their LAV III struck a roadside improvised explosive device around 1:30 p.m. local time Sunday, Walker said during a military briefing Monday.

The dead are Sgt. Donald Lucas, 31; Cpl. Aaron E. Williams, 23; Pte. Kevin Vincent Kennedy, 20; Pte. David Robert Greenslade, 20; Cpl. Christopher Paul Stannix, 24; and Cpl. Brent Poland, 37, the last soldier to be identified. Until Monday afternoon, his name had been withheld at the request of his family.

Ten soldiers were in the vehicle at the time of the blast. Three of the four who survived — the commander, gunner and driver — were in the front of the vehicle.

Six of the seven soldiers in the vehicle's rear section were killed. The seventh soldier survived but was severely wounded.

Walker said the wounded soldier displayed remarkable presence of mind.

"I think he was blown out of the vehicle, on the ground" Walker said. "He was laying there and he told the gunner what to do, to apply pressure here, apply pressure there, under a very stressful situation."

Investigators at scene

Walker said the soldiers were trying to cross a series of irrigation channels in the desert and had found a stretch of ground they felt could support the LAV when the explosion occurred.

They struck a pressure-plated bomb, with the weight of the vehicle triggering the explosion, he said.

Investigators were at the scene of the blast examining the LAV, which was to be moved to the main airbase for further inspection.

Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Rick Hillier, who is in France to mark the 90th anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge, said his thoughts were with the dead soldiers.

"Here in Vimy, I can only imagine the phone calls that are occurring, the knocks on the door that are received and the stress that those families are under," he said. "Our thoughts and our prayers and our support is with those families."

Hillier confident in LAV

With its V-shaped bottom designed to push the force of explosions away from the crew compartment, the LAV III has withstood many roadside bombs and mine blasts.

Military officials say they can't confirm reports the roadside bomb may have caused munitions in the vehicle to explode.

Hillier said he still has full confidence in the LAV.

"Any armoured vehicle can be taken out by explosion," said Hillier. "We've got tactics, we've got procedures that we use to reduce the chances of that occurring."

The troops were serving with NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in the Maywand district near the border with Helmand province, where the multinational force recently launched a major offensive against the Taliban that is called Operation Achilles.

With files from the Canadian Press