A suicide bomber drove his vehicle into a Canadian military convoy outside Kandahar on Friday, injuring five soldiers, said the military.

Canadian intelligence reports had warned that a suicide attack was imminent.

"We had anticipated something like this happening, it's happened, and now we are dealing with it," said Col. Tom Putt, deputy commander of Task Force Afghanistan.

A Canadian soldier stands beside a damaged armoured vehicle after a suicide bombing in Kandahar. (AP Photo/Noor Khan)
A Canadian soldier stands beside a damaged armoured vehicle after a suicide bombing in Kandahar. (AP Photo/Noor Khan)

One of the Canadians received serious injuries to his arm, while the four others were slightly wounded.

Master Cpl. Michael Loewen will need reconstructive surgery to save his arm, but will survive, Canadian Forces doctor Scott Taylor said.

Loewen was flown to a U.S. military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany.

An Afghan boy collects metal near the wreckage of the vehicle of a suicide bomber who injured five Canadian soldiers on Friday. (Courtesy Les Perreaux)
An Afghan boy collects metal near the wreckage of the vehicle of a suicide bomber who injured five Canadian soldiers on Friday. (Courtesy Les Perreaux)

A small vehicle rammed into the armoured LAV III and exploded, causing a loud blast and sending plumes of smoke into the air.

The attack was about halfway along the 25-kilometre span between Kandahar airbase and the provincial reconstruction team base in Kandahar City, said Lieut. Mark MacIntyre, a Canadian Forces spokesperson.

The soldiers had been escorting a four-vehicle convoy of investigators looking into a January attack that took the life of Canadian diplomat Glyn Berry.

The body of Canadian soldier Cpl. Paul Davis is carried onto a flight to Canada. (DND photo)
The body of Canadian soldier Cpl. Paul Davis is carried onto a flight to Canada. (DND photo)

"The injuries could have been much worse had it not been for the armour the LAV III offers," said MacIntyre.

A spokesperson for the Taliban told the Associated Press it sent the bomber, who is an Afghan from Kandahar province.

The wounded were taken from the scene in an armoured Bison ambulance, which caught fire along the way, said the military. The patients were transferred to a G-Wagon for the rest of the trip.

Soldier killed Thursday

The attack came hours before soldiers gathered for a ceremony on the Kandahar base to load the body of Canadian soldier Cpl. Paul Davis onto a flight to Canada.

The entire Canadian contingent turned out for the ceremony, said MacIntyre.

Davis, a Nova Scotia native, was killed Thursday when his armoured vehicle ran off the road to avoid an oncoming car and flipped. Six other soldiers and one Afghan civilian were injured.

In Nova Scotia, provincial politicians paid tribute to the young soldier from Bridgewater.

"It is with deep regret that my first statement in the house as premier is to stand in recognition of the life and the tragic death of one of our province's own soldiers," Premier Rodney MacDonald said Friday.

Flags at the provincial legislature and government buildings in Bridgewater have been lowered to half-mast.

Pte. Miguel Chavez, one of the soldiers seriously injured in Thursday's attack, is being treated at the U.S. hospital in Landstuhl. Two others, who haven't been identified, are expected to arrive there later Friday, said Canadian Forces spokesperson Major Nick Withers.

Davis was the ninth Canadian soldier to be killed in the mission to Afghanistan.

Canada has about 2,200 troops in southern Afghanistan, under the command of Canadian Brig.-Gen. David Fraser.