Residents of a tiny Newfoundland community are mourning the loss of one of their own, after hearing the devastating news that local son Cpl. Jamie Brendan Murphy was killed by a suicide bomber in Afghanistan.

Military personnel arrived at Murphy's parents' home in Conception Harbour before dawn Tuesday, to notify them the 26-year-old soldier died when his routine patrol was attacked by a suicide bomber.

"It's unreal, unreal... He was supposed to be home next Friday," Rodney Ryan, Murphy's brother-in-law, told The Canadian Press.

The news left the family in shock, and others questioning the role of Canadian soldiers in the Afghanistan mission.

"People says we should, right? But I mean, when something like this happens so close... it don't make no sense," Murphy's former schoolteacher told CTV's Newfoundland affiliate. "It don't make no sense... not at all."

Three other members of the Royal Canadian Regiment based in Petawawa, Ontario were wounded in the attack.

The injured soldiers were identified as Lieut. Jason Matthew Feyko, 30, of Peterborough, Ont.; Cpl. Richard Michael Newman, 24, of Hartland, N.B.; and Cpl. Jeremy Gerald MacDonald, 30, of Burnt Islands, Nfld.

They were all listed in stable condition.

Members of the regiment were in the process of returning to Canada after a six-month tour of duty -- a fact that makes the attack even harder for the soldiers' families to bear.

In Hartland, New Brunswick, Cpl. Newman's father told ATV News that although word of the attack came as a surprise, he'd been expecting it.

"You don't know who your enemy is," he said, explaining his view of the mission in Afghanistan.

"Somebody jumped out of a crowd on the street ... they don't wear uniforms, so you don't know who you are going to meet. It's a hard way to fight anything."

According to his dad, despite suffering shrapnel wounds to his shoulder and face, Newman will likely want to keep serving his country.

Lt. Feyko's mother Barb told CTV's Toronto affiliate CFTO News that she is grateful her son is alive, and proud of what he's doing.

"They were representing Canada. And you can't be better than that," she said.

At Canadian Forces Base Petawawa, where preparations were underway for troops' return from their tour of duty, flags flew at half-mast with news one of their own had died.

"It's a sad loss for the battalion. More than our military family will feel his loss. The community is deeply saddened and shocked. It will take us some time to cope with this," said Lt.-Col. Acton Kilby, acting commander of 2 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group in Petawawa.

In the eastern Ontario community of Petawawa, almost the entire population of 15,000 is somehow connected to the military base.

The effects of the attack in Afghanistan are also being felt at the home of the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Canadian Regiment, Canadian Forces base Gagetown.

Last October, two soldiers from that arm of the battle group -- Sgt. Robert Short and Cpl. Robbie Beerenfenger -- died when their Iltis jeep struck a landmine south of Kabul.