Two days after three Canadian soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan, the Canadian military suspended use of the unarmoured vehicle they were riding in for ferrying supplies between checkpoints.

The open-top, six-wheeled M-Gator will no longer be used outside secure compounds, Lt.-Col. Rob Walker told reporters Friday.

The three Canadian soldiers killed Wednesday were travelling in an all-terrain vehicle similar to the one shown in this May 15 photo.
(Sgt. Craig Fiander/DND/Canadian Press)

Cpl. Stephen Frederick Bouzane, Pte. Joel Vincent Wiebe and Sgt. Christos Karigiannis were killed Wednesday when their M-Gator struck an improvised explosion device, or IED.

They were travelling between checkpoints that were only 600 metres apart in the volatile Panjwaii district near Kandahar when the bomb went off.

Walker said it was the first such incident in the district in several months, but it made the military rethink its use of the vehicle.

"In light of the changing security situation in Panjwaii district in general, and specifically now that we are targeted again … we've certainly reassessed the use of this particular piece of equipment used to transport our logistics supplies and we are certainly no longer going to employ that item."

The Canadian military had secured the area after fierce fighting with the Taliban late last year in Operation Medusa. Twelve Canadian soldiers were killed during the offensive.

The latest deaths brought to 60 the number of Canadian troops killed in Afghanistan since the mission began in 2002.

Improvised explosion devices like the one that that struck the Gator have been responsible for about a third of the Canadian deaths in Afghanistan.

After Wednesday's blast, Brig.-Gen. Tim Grant, commander of Canada's troops in Afghanistan, said the all-terrain vehicle the soldiers were riding in was "appropriate for the task at hand."

The Gator can handle rough, muddy terrain and is often used by soldiers to transport small loads. The stretch of road where the blast occurred this week was the only area in Panjwaii that the military had deemed safe enough for its use.

The military thought its combat operations and reconstruction work had made the area secure enough to replace soldiers on foot patrol with the Gators for supply runs. Villagers had moved back to the district and schools had reopened after Operation Medusa.

Military has choice of vehicles, Harper says  

Prime Minister Stephen Harper told reporters in Ottawa on Friday that it's up to the military to decide what kind of vehicles it uses in Afghanistan.

"I think we're all aware that these particular deaths have raised some questions of some operational matters. All I can tell you is that the military will have to look into those.

"The government has provided the military with a range of vehicles, from the simplest unarmoured vehicle up to and including tanks, but ultimately we can't stand here in judgment of operations in the field.

"Commanders have to make those decisions and they're going to have to review decisions that have been made."