A second Canadian soldier hurt in Thursday's rollover of an armoured vehicle in Afghanistan has died of his injuries, the military says.

Master Cpl. Timothy Wilson of Grande Prairie, Alta., died early Sunday morning, the Department of National Defence said in a statement.

Wilson had been undergoing treatement at a U.S military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany after being injured in the crash that also killed Cpl. Paul Davis, 28, of Bridgewater, N.S. Five other soldiers were also injured.

Their LAV III, a lightly armoured vehicle from General Motors, smashed into a taxi and flipped during a routine patrol near Kandahar.

Wilson's family – including his wife Daphne Wilson and his mother, Jane Wilson – was by his side in his last hours, the Defence Department said.

"We have always supported Tim's military career," Jane Wilson said in the DND statement. "Although he has died, he did so doing something he loved and deeply believed in – both in life and in death."

Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor offered his condolences to Wilson's family and friends.

"Their loss is also Canada's loss," he said.

O'Connor defended the mission in Afghanistan, where about 2,300 Canadian troops are deployed as part of an expansion of a NATO-led security force.

"As this sad moment illustrates, there are risks to our mission in Afghanistan," O'Connor said. "But the men and women of the Canadian Forces understand those risks.

"They understand that their presence in Afghanistan is necessary to help the Afghan people have a better future. And most of all, they understand that it is necessary to protect Canada from the scourge of terrorism."

It has been a tumultuous week for Canadian troops in Afghanistan.

A Canadian general assumed command of the coalition forces in the country's volatile south on Tuesday.

But in the same week, the Canadians have weathered the deadly crash and four militant attacks that wounded seven soldiers.

Lieut. Trevor Greene, a journalist and former navy officer from Vancouver, was in serious condition Sunday after being hit in the head with an axe during an ambush a day earlier.