Two Canadian soldiers were killed and eight others were wounded Saturday in one of two suicide bombing attacks in Afghanistan near the coalition base in Kandahar.

Cpl. Francisco Gomez, 44, of the Lord Strathcona's Horse of Edmonton and Cpl. Jason Patrick Warren, 29, of Montreal's Black Watch Royal Highland Regiment were killed, while the eight wounded were also Canadian soldiers, CBC News reports.

Seven Afghan civilians were also killed and 30 were injured in the bombings, it was reported.

Maj. Scott Lundy, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition forces, said earlier that eight soldiers were wounded when a suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden car into a coalition vehicle.

This was the most serious attack on Canada's soldiers in Afghanistan since their arrival in February 2002. The death toll has now risen to 19 soldiers and one diplomat.

In the first blast Saturday, a Canadian Forces Bison armoured vehicle was at the tail end of a convoy of Canadians that was heading back to Kandahar Air Field following a gruelling two weeks of fighting. It was rammed by a car full of explosives around 5:30 p.m. local time, some six kilometres west of Kandahar, the Canadian Press reports.

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