A sombre memorial service was held in Pembroke, Ont., where more than 3,000 family members and military personnel gathered to remember two Canadian soldiers killed in Kabul last week.

Sgt. Robert Short and Cpl. Robbie Beerenfenger were killed in Afghanistan last Thursday when the Iltis jeep they were travelling in hit what is now believed to have been at least one and possibly three mines. Three other soldiers were injured.

All were stationed at CFB Petawawa.

Thousands gathered at the Pembroke Memorial Centre Tuesday to remember the two soldiers. As the service began, there were moments of silence bracketed by the playing of "The Last Post" and "Reveille."

Cpl. Jason Sample, a spokesman for the Beerenfenger family, said he found his soul mate in his wife Tina and always had time for his three children.

"He was full of life and one of a kind," Sample said with his voice breaking. "Rob was the first to volunteer, the last to quit at the end of the day."

Short's brother, Mitchell, called Robert a "hero" for being a good father, a good husband and all around good person.

"My brother paid the ultimate price for being a hero. He wasn't made a hero by dying. He was a hero because of the way he lived."

The Canadian military's chief of land staff, Lieutenant-General Rick Hillier, said Short and Beerenfenger "represented the very best" that Canadian soldiers have to offer.

Dignitaries who attended the service included Canadian Alliance Leader Stephen Harper, Conservative Leader Peter MacKay and NDP Leader Jack Layton.

Short is to be buried Wednesday. Beerenfenger's funeral is scheduled for Thursday.

A preliminary report handed to Maj.-Gen. Andrew Leslie, the commander of Canadian Forces in Afghanistan, suggests the explosion was most probably caused by at least one Soviet-made TM-57 anti-tank mine "designed to kill or immobilize a main battle tank."

Also Tuesday, a man was arrested in Afghanistan who may be responsible for the blast. Abu Bakr is the senior-most commander in Kabul of Afghanistan's third-largest terrorist organization, Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin, or HIG.

He has been accused of several other attacks on members of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) of which Canada is the largest contributor.

The bodies of the two soldiers returned home on Sunday. Autopsies were conducted on their bodies in Toronto on Monday, but it will likely be weeks before the results are known.

Defence Minister John McCallum was on hand for the sad homecoming. He was not present for the memorial service in Petawawa Tuesday.

Since the incident, McCallum has been fighting off criticism of the military's Iltis jeeps, which are 19 years old. He acknowledges the so-called "battlefield taxis" are at the end of their lives, but maintains they will soon be replaced by a new vehicle built by Mercedes.

He also said the 2,000 Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan have Coyote and LAV III armoured vehicles for use.

With a report from The Canadian Press