KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - A single bullet fired by a Canadian soldier killed a 10-year-old boy and wounded a teenager who approached a security cordon on a motorcycle, about two hours after a suicide bomber killed a Canadian soldier and a young Afghan girl in a fiery strike outside the gates of Camp Nathan Smith.
Three other Canadian soldiers were injured in the afternoon attack outside Camp Nathan Smith, which occurred just days after Canadian and NATO forces routed Taliban insurgents with an aerial and artillery assault in nearby Panjwaii and less than 24 hours after two Canadian soldiers were injured, one seriously, when insurgents ambushed a convoy with small arms fire.
Tuesday's attack and its bloody aftermath occurred about 3:15 p.m., just 700 metres outside the fortified camp in Kandahar City when a suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle near a returning Canadian convoy, engulfing a LAV-III and G-Wagon in flames and destroying both.
Corp. David Braun, a recently arrived soldier with the second battalion of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, is the eighth Canadian soldier to die here this month and the 19th since operations moved to the south in February.
His three comrades are in the airfield hospital in good condition.
Clouds of black smoke billowed into the sky for upwards of 30 minutes following the blast as soldiers inside the wire, some with cameras, clambered aboard sea containers and vehicles to better determine its origins.
Word spread rapidly Canadians had been hit as the sounds of ammunition firing in the burning vehicles echoed across the camp.
A quick response team sped out of the normally quiet base to secure the blast site and the wounded soldiers were rushed back to the base and carried on stretchers, in front of dozens of their stone-faced comrades, to a pair of waiting helicopters and evacuated to the hospital at Kandahar Air Field.
Shaken Afghan National police officers used a red pick-up truck to ferry the broken body of a young girl critically injured in the bombing to the Nathan Smith hospital but their efforts were in vain.
An officer carried the limp child into the hospital swaddled in a small rug and several officers carried the body back out minutes later on a stretcher covered over with a grey blanket.
What transpired at the scene of the suicide attack some two hours after the blast will be the focus of an investigation by the military's National Investigation Service, which is already probing the death of a Canadian soldier earlier this month that involved the unintentional discharge of a Canadian weapon.
"A motorcycle carrying two people broke through the Afghan National Police outer security cordon at at high speed. The driver failed to heed multiple warnings to stop has he headed towards the inner Canadian cordon," said Col. Fred Lewis, deputy commander of the Canadian contingent here.
"A Canadian ISAF soldier opened fire in a defensive application of our rules of engagement. A single round struck both the driver and the passenger of the motorcycle."
The youngest boy was taken for treatment to Camp Nathan Smith and the older boy - believed to be about 17 - "ran away" but eventually made his way there on his own, said Lewis, who, by chance, was at the provincial reconstruction camp when the blast and shooting occurred.
The 10-year-old passed away as a result of his injuries.
Lewis couldn't confirm reports family members of the youths converged in frustration at the gates of Camp Nathan Smith. Both youths were flown by helicopter to the air field base where the oldest is listed in serious but stable condition.
Lewis, who was commanding Canadian forces here Tuesday with the absence of Brig.-Gen. David Fraser, said he doubted warning shots were fired given the speed of the motorcycle and that no explosives had been found on the vehicle. He said he had a "sneaking suspicion" the Canadians believed the motorcycle was a secondary suicide bomber.
Asked if Canada had any words of apology or regret to the family and community, Lewis said: "Absolutely. This is all about gaining the support of the local people. We certainly have no intent of hurting anybody here."
He conceded the Taliban might attempt to use this incident to sway locals away from coalition forces but stressed the Taliban showed no regard for the young Afghan girl killed in the suicide strike.
"I don't believe that these people care at all whether they hurt the average Afghan," said Lewis.
He added he had no information to indicate the attack was payback on the part of the Taliban for weekend strikes that left their ranks severely diminished.
More than 72 militants were killed in a Canadian and NATO air and artillery assault and nine insurgents were killed Sunday in Helmand, including, NATO believes, a "prominent insurgent" named Hajji Zaheer who they accused of helping supply and mastermind recent attacks in that area.
The shooting death by Canadian troops of a 10 year-old boy in Afghanistan has raised fears of a backlash and retaliation. The boy was shot and a teenager injured at around 5pm local time yesterday when, while driving a motorcycle, they sped through a roadblock cordoning off the scene of a suicide bombing. A soldier fired a bullet which passed through the 17 year-old driver and killed the boy. Military authorities are investigating the incident. 

"A motorcycle carrying two people broke through the Afghan National Police outer security cordon at high speed," said Colonel Fred Lewis, deputy commander of the Canadian contingent of NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan. "The driver failed to heed multiple warnings to stop as he headed towards the inner Canadian cordon. A Canadian ISAF soldier then opened fire in a defensive application of our rules of engagement. A single round struck both the driver and the passenger of the motorcycle."

Lewis doubts soldiers had time to fire warning shots due to the speed of the oncoming motorcycle. He also said that while no
explosives were found on the vehicle he had a "sneaking suspicion" that soldiers feared the motorcycle carried a second suicide bomber and acted defensively. He added that he was concerned that the Taliban would try to exploit the incident for propaganda purposes and that he was concerned about a possible backlash by locals. 

"I would be concerned about it and I think we need to pass the right message to the Afghan people," he said. "The message is that we're here to help them and we certainly would never want to hurt them."

Relatives of the boys were at the gates of the Canadian military base last night demanding answers. 

Corporal David Braun was killed in the suicide attack which occurred two hours before the shooting. Three other soldiers were wounded but are listed in good condition. An Afghan child also died in the blast which occurred when a suicide bomber rammed his car into a Canadian convoy on patrol in Kandahar.

Corporal Braun is the 27th Canadian soldier to die since Canadian military operations in Afghanistan began in late 2001 as part of the American led "War on Terror".